Connection Terminated
by Pyroteknix
Summary: Amidst chaos and war, the Bladebreakers fight through the real and virtual world to take back one of the most important things they have. Freedom. R/M and M/E pairings in story.
1. War

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
An unknown person is controlling the nations of the world. Control is wrested from the leaders of various countries across the globe. People have begun to contradict against this anarchy and have formed a rebellion to topple the dictator. But this war is fought on two sides now. One the real world, and the other the virtual world.  
22:27, Rebels' Underground Facility, Shanghai, China  
  
Ray snored loudly as he rested his head on his keyboard. "Ray!" A voice shouted and he merely turned over in his sleep. "Wake up you idiot!" He mumbled something then realized that he wasn't in the past anymore. Ray promptly sat upright and rubbed his eyes as he woke up. "Hello! I'M UNDER ATTACK!" Ray whacked his head and stared at his computer screen where a teenage boy who looked uncannily like a tiger was loading what appeared to be a rifle. "Damn! Five of them." Ray shouted and quickly typed in a series of codes into his keyboard and he watched as the rifle in the boy's hands dissipated and transformed into a nasty looking machine gun. "Okay, Driger, I'm calling for reinforcements." Ray added as Driger fired at his approaching enemies. He whipped out a watch and waited impatiently as a holographic display of Tyson's face appeared. "Yeah, Kai saw unusual readings on the scanner. Don't ask. They're already there." The brown- haired boy said before Ray had a chance to say anything. Ray shrugged and wiped the sweat of his forehead. He turned to face the screen once more and noticed a tall, imposing figure that was obviously Dranzer sniping at the thick armor of a bulky enemy. Nanoseconds later, a cheerful looking boy with wild blue hair appeared on Ray's screen and begun to fire dual pistols at the approaching units. Driger's face popped in a mini-screen and looked grim. "Ray, we can't seem to delete those government forces!" Driger yelled as Ray nervously watched his bitbeast's futile attempts to even dent the behemoth like creatures. He typed in another weapons code but his upload was interrupted by an attack to Driger and the other bitbeasts. Dranzer side rolled and fired behind them, his armor-piercing sniper ammunition downing a government soldier creeping up behind their backs. Kai's frustrated face appeared beside Driger's and shouted in surprise. "They're decoys! The real units are behind us!" "You think?" Tyson said sarcastically as Dragoon fired entire rounds at the real government forces and deleted a foolish soldier. Driger grimaced as rifle fire connected with his shoulder and he crawled behind a virtual ruin of a building. Dragoon's arm disappeared into digital oblivion as a shotgun shell blasted his arm and sent him flying through the web page. Dranzer threw a black and red cape in front of him as ammunition disintegrated on impact with the half- decorative, half-useful cloak. "Were dead." Kai muttered as a bullet pierced Dranzer's shield and watched as the government soldiers readied a firewall for a trace of their location in the real world. A tall soldier walked up to the front of the forces, noticeably different from the rest because of his unique color scheme and fiery hair. "A bitbeast!" Ray shouted in surprise as he observed the government soldier. "Correct. You rebels aren't the only one with bitbeasts on the Internet." A cold, calculating voice said in response and pulled out a digital wakizashi. "My name is Riwin and I will have the pleasure of killing the infamous Dranzer, Driger and Dragoon after the trace." He continued and signaled to his troops to ready activate the firewall. The soldier prepared to click on a panel located at the side of a machine that looked like a turbine but was harshly cut off when a virtual knife sliced through his head. Another bitbeast, female with flowing pink hair, somersaulted towards another soldier with the average grace of an acrobat and slashed another stunned soldier. Mariah's face appeared on Ray's monitor and he blushed as he stared at her digital face. "Galux and I were just visiting the page when we saw the fight." She said with a dangerously pretty grin. Driger's face overlapped Mariah's and whistled excitedly. "There are some advantages to becoming humanoid! Especially for Galux." The bitbeast commented while watching Galux rip through the enemy forces. Dranzer made a bored face and fired his sniper rifle at the forehead of a shocked enemy fighter. "Yeah, yeah. Just because she had the advantage of surprise." Dranzer mumbled before firing at another soldier's face. Riwin blocked a blow from behind and retaliated at Galux, missing by an inch. Galux swiped again but her hand was caught in the air and she was twisted off her feet. Riwin smirked and readied to deal the final blow to Galux when a gun slammed into his face. The malevolent bitbeast frowned and back flipped to avoid a shot from Dragoon's dual pistols. "Hey! Hands off our buddy!" Tyson shouted at his screen as Galux got up, groaning and clutching her wrist. Driger knocked away the wakizashi of Riwin with a well-placed flying kick as Dranzer blasted a hole through the bitbeast's forearm. "Damn. Drake will be mad." He said as his form began to blur and get transported back to the email address of his master. "Well, that was weird." Ray broke the stunned silence as his bitbeast scratched his head in puzzlement. A stocky bitbeast with purple vestments appeared suddenly, panting heavily. Max's sweaty face flickered onto Ray's screen and Driger groaned. "Was intercepted at a website. 10 heavily armed government forces. Almost didn't make it." He explained as Draciel wiped virtual blood off his purple clothes. "Are we late?" The bitbeast asked innocently as he surveyed the extensively damaged web page. Dranzer groaned and shot a passing digital bird for the heck of it and watched it fall downwards. "You have no idea."  
  
23:17, Operations Room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Kai paced the spacious room in frustration as his teammates and he debated over the strange bitbeast that attacked them along with the government forces. "Shut up!" He yelled as Tyson and another rebel argued over the best course of action. Kai slammed his fist on the wooden table and glared at the other rebels. "Kenny has told us that there are at least 3 other government bitbeasts attacking other branches of our rebellion." At this, the entire room fell silent in attention. "One is Riwin." He pointed to a freeze frame picture of their enemy. "The second, who attacked the American web page, has not given out his name as of now." Kai continued as Max quietly entered the room, sweaty and dirty from running away from real soldiers. Kai rolled his eyes and pointed at a picture of the third. "This bitbeast is Ris. So far the only female bitbeast out there." (A/N: Pronounced "Reese" as a tribute to zoids.) He stated while the rebels took down notes regarding the bitbeast that closely resembled a bird of prey. "The last is Rizel. The only information about him is that he seems to prefer indirect attacks and focuses on planting viruses or worms within a web page." Kai breathed a sigh and looked over his troops. "Branch leader Kai, were supposed to receive help from our North China branch soon. Who are being assigned to us?" A rebel asked and Ray grinned at an annoyed Kai. "Second-in-command Mariah and two extra rebels." He replied and rolled his eyes as Ray rubbed his hands excitedly. Kai's watch popped open and a hologram of Kenny's agitated face appeared. He muttered an expletive as Kenny told him the new and he turned to face his soldiers. "Central China branch, move out! We have an American rebel being attacked approximately 2 miles away from here! Go, go, go!" Kai shouted as he donned a military officer's uniform and rushed out the door, following his allies. The soldiers instantly formed a line as they grabbed rifles off a rack with practiced speed and ran out the exit of their base. Tyson and Ray split from the main group and followed a few other soldiers as they hopped onto high-tech motorcycles. (Hover technology has not been invented yet.) and zoomed out ahead of the rest.  
  
23:23, Outskirts of Shanghai, China  
  
Ray smiled as he saw Mariah pull up beside him in a motorbike, her pink hair flowing in the wind. "Hey! About time you joined the party!" He shouted over the din of their customized vehicles. She smiled back and overtook him as they raced alongside their comrades. Ray whipped out a radio and called Kai and the sniper team. "First strike force closing in on destination. Do you have visual on targets?" A staticky voice came through the radio and replied. "Approximate number of targets is 20. Make sure none get out alive. We'll provide cover fire for you guys." Ray ended the conversation and rounded a curve, rifle loaded and ready for bloodshed. He ran over two surprised government soldiers as the female American soldier returned fire at her attackers. Mariah zoomed up to the fellow rebel and scooped her up from the ground, quickly turning around to drop her off at the base. Tyson noticed an enemy soldier try to pursue their old friend, Mariah, but a dose of bullets cured the poor soldier's curiousity. He gave thumbs up to Ray as the main force appeared from the top of a hill and attacked the soldiers while cover fire came from Kai and his sniper team. Within minutes, the battle was over without any casualties on the rebels' side. Ray picked off a retreating government soldier and turned around as Max's rifle eliminated a soldier trying to kill him. "Nice one, Max." "No problem." The blonde American who joined the Central China branch because most of his old friends were there smiled and ran to catch up with his leaving troop. Ray grinned and scooted off on his motorcycle, quickly closing the distance between him and Tyson. "Who do you think the girl was?" Tyson asked with one hand on the controls and the other holding a candy bar. Ray shrugged and smiled cockily at his friend. "At least we taught that goddamn dictator a lesson. Never mess with us and the world!" Tyson rolled his eyes and put on a burst of speed. "First one back buys dinner!" He shouted before leaving Ray in the dust. "But you're the best rider we have!" "I know! Hahaha!"  
  
Next chapter: A happy reunion for the Bladebreakers is cut short when another bitbeast attacks the net. This bitbeast is faster and stronger than any enemy that they have ever fought before because this particular bitbeast happens to be the dictator's. Finally, they discover who their enemy really is. 


	2. Son of the Enemy

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
7:46, Somewhere in Northern Russia  
  
"Drake! How could Riwin lose to those rebels?" A man shouted angrily at the slick-haired Drake who stood rigid in attentive obedience. "Sir, I did not include the possibility of reinforcements when we lured the 3 bitbeasts to the web page." Drake replied hastily while staring at his superior officer. "My apologies, Sir." He added as his boss sighed heavily and turned around to face Drake. "I'll handle the next meeting. You help Jex with the virus implant." He ordered and Drake saluted in reply before leaving the office. He pulled his laptop out from his desk and quickly checked on his bitbeast, smiling maliciously. "What is it now?" The bitbeast answered impudently and stroked his silver virtual hair. "Attack the rebel base. What else?" The dictator replied while fingering an expensive and luxurious ball pen. The black and silver bitbeast grinned and stepped into a portal-like thing that led to the Internet.  
  
8:46, Ray's room, Rebel base, Shanghai, China  
  
Ray passionately kissed Mariah as he pinned her to his small yet comfortable bed. She ran her hands through his hair as she slowly floated off to absolute nirvana. Ray slowly rubbed her back gently as he savored every beautiful inch of her lips before breaking off. "God, I missed you." He said as she stared into his golden eyes. "I did too. That's why I volunteered to help your branch." He laughed quietly and hugged her as she melted away in his arms. "Ahem. Our guest is awake." Kai said coldly, scaring the wits out of the couple on Ray's bed. He stopped leaning against Ray's doorway and walked towards the main room of the rebel base. "I wish our lives were still happy and peaceful." Ray kissed Mariah's forehead before standing up and walking out of his small room. Mariah smiled and quickly chased his retreating form.  
  
8:47, Main room, Rebel base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Emily?" Tyson shouted as the former All-Star beyblader hugged Max tightly. Ray blinked in surprise as he stared at their old friend. "Emily, do you have authorization to be here?" Kai asked coldly and the orange- haired girl promptly stopped hugging a blushing Max. She looked down on the floor and shuffled her feet. "I assume that means no. Then why did you come here?" He continued, staring at her with penetrating eyes. She looked at Max for support and the fellow American quickly defended her. "Hey! Don't be so hard on her! After all, she is our friend." He said and wrapped his arms around her stomach protectively. Kai rolled his eyes in surrender and walked out of the main room, visibly frustrated by the impromptu visit. "Fine then, bunk with Max." He ordered and excused himself as Mariah chatted with her best friend. Tyson walked over to Max with a quizzical expression and tapped his shoulder. "Why did you stand up for her? Kai's gonna give you the cold shoulder for days!" He asked impatiently and Max hesitated before replying. "I really don't know." Ray nudged Max gently in the ribs and grinned. "Hey, I've talked with Mariah before and I'm sure you're in." A siren interrupted him and Kenny's staticky voice shouted commands. "We have an Internet breach at section 5! All available personnel with digitized bitbeasts get ready for battle!" Ray quickly grabbed Mariah's arm and she nodded grimly. Tyson twirled a disk case that contained Dragoon's virtual data and ran off to his computer station as Ray and Mariah followed him. Max smiled at Emily before waving and running off to catch up with his fellow rebels. Emily sighed and pulled out her own disk case containing Trygator's combat data. She ran up to Max and held his arm before following him to the virtual combat room.  
  
8:50, Virtual Combat room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Kai slid onto his personal computer and quickly sent Dranzer to the attack site, simultaneously uploading a heavy-duty sniper rifle for his bitbeast. He frowned as Mariah quickly sat down beside Ray, noting Ray's obvious pleasure at her choice of seating. He rolled his eyes in sheer disgust when Max sat right next to Emily and blushed when her hand grazed his hand. Turning his attention to the screen, he scanned the area for their opponent and saw a tall and evil-looking bitbeast with a black cloak stride out of the smoke, grinning maliciously and twirling a long rifle. Dranzer frowned and narrowed his eyes before signaling to Driger, Dragoon, Draciel, Galux and Trygator to move in on the eerie figure ahead of them. The ominous bitbeast raised a hand instead of his large weapon and Kai watched in sheer awe as his teammates were sent tumbling backwards. "I want you, Dranzer." He said coldly before rushing at the stunned bitbeast and firing his elongated weapon at the virtual warrior. Dranzer rolled out of the way and retaliated, noting the fact that the bitbeast also used his cloak like a shield. The enemy lunged at Dranzer as an explosion rocked his previous location. The cloaked bitbeast wrestled with a calm Dranzer before kicking off his opponent's body and sniping at Galux from the digital air. "Galux!" Kai saw Mariah shout beside Ray as her bitbeast clutched her damaged leg, groaning in pain. Driger roared angrily and leapt at the opposing bitbeast but was swatted away by the enemy. Dranzer fired a shot at the nigh-invincible bitbeast but his attack was deflected by the enemy's cloak. The bitbeast back flipped and landed in front of all the rebels. "I thought you guys had more fight in you." He said cockily while stroking his long silver hair with one hand and raising his defensive cloak with the other. A rebel bitbeast ran forward and the bitbeast rolled his eyes in boredom. In a blur of movement, the courageous rebel bitbeast was eliminated by means of a fatal shot to the head. Kai slammed his fist on his desk angrily as he saw Dranzer abandon his gun and throw a punch at the enemy bitbeast. Apparently, the cloak only functioned against ammunition and the force of Dranzer's punch knocked the bitbeast back. Dranzer pinned the bitbeast down to the dusty virtual floor and readied to jam his gloved fist into the bitbeast's face. "Who are you?" Kai shouted into the microphone attached to his computer and Dranzer glared at the bitbeast in silent agreement. The bitbeast smirked and kicked Dranzer off before answering his inquiry. "Ah, yes, I forgot my manners. I am Zealous. Now can we continue?" The bitbeast replied curtly before aiming its rifle at Dranzer's head. Zealous was knocked backwards as Dragoon fired its trademark dual pistols at his stomach. "Score for the Dragoon-boss!" Tyson yelled in triumph as everyone stared at the smoke, which concealed Zealous. A ray of light flew out of the dense smoke and blasted right through Dragoon's stomach. Draciel quickly put up an ethereal shield around the choking Dragoon and lifted him back to a group of rebel bitbeasts that specialized in medical treatments. Trygator removed a stray brown hair from her eyes as she locked onto the clearing smoke where Zealous was and fired a rocket straight at the targeted area. Dranzer was knocked off his feet as a huge explosion rocked the web page. The Virtual Combat room was submerged in applause for the embarrassed Emily but Kai wasn't about to celebrate just yet. "Damn!" He yelled and everybody turned their attention back to their computer monitors as they spotted Zealous hovering above the destroyed area, using his cape as a glider. Driger clutched his forearm as a bullet penetrated his digital flesh and an injured Galux crawled up to him. "Driger." She promptly fell unconscious on his limp yet breathing form as Trygator inched away from the grinning Zealous. A spinning virtual knife sliced through her arm and she screamed in pain before being knocked out by a tossed rifle. Zealous floated down to the ground and raised an eyebrow as he watched Draciel run to Trygator's side. He frowned in distaste and twirled a newly uploaded gun before firing the pistol at Draciel's chest. He kicked Dranzer in the stomach as the remaining bitbeast sneaked up on him. Zealous whirled around and smirked at the apparently unconscious bitbeast, twirling his pistol confidently. "Get ready to die, Dranzer." He muttered but was swept of his feet as Dranzer grabbed his legs and twisted him onto his back. Kai breathed a sigh of relief and hastily typed in a code for a shotgun as everybody tentatively watched Dranzer pin down a surprised Zealous. "Nighty night, you bastard." Dranzer said quickly as he loaded the shotgun and aimed it at Zealous' head. "I don't think so." He mumbled confidently and Dranzer was blown off his prey by a blast of energy. "I thought you would be more successful than Riwin." Another bitbeast strolled up to the devastated web page and helped Zealous up. "Shut up, Ris." Zealous muttered as he wiped the dust off his virtual clothes. A displeased face appeared on everyone's screen and Emily spat in surprise. "Oh, so Miss Emily remembers me." The black-haired man said as Emily began to inch backwards in fear. Max laid his hand on her shoulder as she shivered in fright. The man sighed and introduced himself. "My name is Ivan and I happen to be the son of Zealous' master, Nathan Elmdor. Unfortunately, my father cannot possibly talk to you right now but I suppose I'll do." His eyes travelled to Emily's face and he grinned. "I'm so sorry for killing your family. They were in the way of global domination." He shrugged and Ray growled at the murderer. "Anyway, I'm also terribly sorry for Zealous' failure. My bitbeast, Arcford, was unable to assist him in his destruction." Kai wondered what would have happened if Arcford was there to help Zealous, shivering in fear. Ivan rubbed his chin and stared thoughtfully at Mariah's face before snapping his fingers. "Miss, do you happen to have any relatives working in the U.S?" He asked politely and Mariah glared defiantly at him. "Well, I happened to kill another girl in the States that also had pink hair. It was actually pretty fun 'cause there was this weird kid who looked like a lion or something trying to protect the girl. Must've been his mom." Mariah's jaw dropped as she put 2 and 2 together and realized whom Ivan was talking about. Ray promptly stood up as Driger did the same in the virtual world. "You bastard!" He shouted and Driger grimaced before reaching for a gun. The bitbeast was cut off as a Zealous fired at the rifle he was grabbing and grinned back at Driger. Mariah's hands slid off the desk as she stared blankly at the screen, her expression making Ivan grin. "So you lied. And that freaky guy who tried to fight back when I killed your mother. Dad?" The twisted boy said with a demented smile and lit up eyes. Tyson stood up and caught Mariah's body before she fell on the floor in shock. "Dranzer! Now!" Kai suddenly yelled and everybody turned to face the composed rebel leader and his rising bitbeast. Ris's slender form was knocked away by a spinning kick from a calm Dranzer. Kai's fingers danced on the keyboard as he uploaded a set of pistols to Dranzer and made a face as he saw Zealous get thrown across the web page. Dranzer's battered cloak slid across the dusty floor and he aimed his virtual weapons at the digitized face of Ivan. The calculating boy raised an eyebrow at the imposing figure of Dranzer and snapped a finger. "Ris ambushed you already. Why not twice?" He said calmly as a lithe bitbeast with slick silver hair like Zealous appeared and knocked Dranzer down. Arcford did an astonishing display of flips as he somersaulted over to his fallen comrades, picking them up. "Isn't my Arcford the most wonderful thing ever? Goodbye, Kai. Only I end a conversation." Ivan's face disappeared as the 3 government bitbeasts teleported back to their respective email addresses. Max quickly entered a multiple log out command and watched as each of the rebel bitbeasts were transported back to their masters' hard drives. He joined the other rebels in surrounding a sobbing Mariah and tried desperately to comfort her. She swatted away their hands and rushed out of the room, her tears splashing on the cold steel floor. Ray closed his eyes and walked slowly to his room as Tyson removed the discs containing their bitbeasts and placed them inside their cases. Max watched his two friends leave, staring at Kai, who was looking at Emily with distaste in his eyes. He strode out and tucked his disc case into his pocket as Emily wrapped her arms around Max's waist. He stroked her cheek and sighed. "Things just get more and more complicated."  
  
P.S: Someone review me! Please! 


	3. Rescue

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
To Sakura 88: Yep. This is in the future. If you think about it, almost all fanfics are sequels or are continuations.  
  
To shadow wulf: Hmmm. Can your characters be antagonists? I need extra baddies for my fic.  
  
9:22, Shanghai City, China  
  
Mariah wiped away another tear as she walked through the once populous and vibrant city of Shanghai. She bit her lip as she watched parents scoop up their crying child and hug her reassuringly. She kicked a stone and watched it fly over to a tall man's foot. The man blinked and stared at Mariah before calling over two burly men to his side. He pulled out a picture and scanned, glancing at Mariah before finally walking up to her. "Excuse me, young lady. You seem to be familiar." The tall, blonde man said politely while smiling at Mariah. She looked up and shook her head in response. "Sorry, I must be the wrong person." One of the men promptly grabbed her mouth and shoved her into an alley as the tall man followed, twirling a bronze cane. "Tell Nathan we caught the girl he was talking to." The man ordered and one of the aides pulled out a cellphone and gave it to him. Mariah whimpered in protest as the first man gagged her and tied her wrists before giving thumbs up to his boss. "Jex here. We caught little Miss Mariah straying from the rebels." The blonde man said to Nathan, obviously pleased, on the other end of the phone. "Can we have a little fun with her before the execution? Thanks Nathan! Bye!" Jex snapped the cellphone shut and begun to remove his jacket. He gestured to one of his aides, impatiently snapping his fingers. "Restrain her while I have a bit of fun." Mariah's eyes widened in fear as Jex slowly closed in on her, smiling maliciously. He stopped as a stone slammed into the back of his head and he whirled around angrily. A little boy pointed accusingly at him and threw another stone. "Leave her alone!" The small boy shouted in his squeaky voice and ran for cover as Jex pulled out a pistol. He gritted his teeth in frustration and fired at the wall serving as protection for the impudent little boy. "Forget it. Load her into the chopper, now!" He shouted and fired another shot into the air for emphasis. Mariah silently thanked the little boy and stayed still as they transported her to the region's government control center.  
  
11:32, Operations Room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"WHAT! Mariah is being held captive by the government?" Ray shouted in anger and frustration as Kai sighed impatiently. "Yes. Now before you." Ray quickly interrupted his superior, tension filling his golden eyes. "I want permission to stage a rescue mission!" He asked, quavering, his voice tinged with rage. Kai slammed down his open palm on the long table in the middle of the room, glaring at Ray. "No! That is too risky to accept. They're expecting a break-in!" Kai retorted and Ray sat down, bristling. "Do they have a ransom?" Max put in, calmly tapping the desk. Kai breathed in air before replying. "They will kill her if we do not surrender our branch to them." He said with an air of entrapment and resignation. Ray bowed his head as he faced two conflicting issues, forced to choose one. "Then we surrender or I will save her alone." Ray said officially and Kai laughed in a sarcastic manner. "No. The best thing to do would be to let her die." Everybody's jaw dropped except for Kai's composed one. He stared at his subordinates grimly and continued. "It's better than risking another soldier for her and than giving up in this war." He explained as Ray promptly walked up to Kai, spitting at his feet. "You son of a bitch." Ray muttered and Kai smiled thinly before punching Ray's face so hard, he toppled backwards. Ray punched Kai in the stomach and his leader reeled in pain before pulling out a gun. He glared angrily at Ray and grimaced in pain. Kai pointed the gun at Ray's head and signaled two other rebels to restrain Ray. "You are to be detained under the charges of treason." Kai muttered and his old friend looked shocked at his reaction. "Asshole! You're the traitor, Kai! You betrayed your friends!" Ray shouted back as he was dragged out of the Operations Room. Kai frowned and tucked his gun in his military jacket. "I lost everything when this war started. I'm prepared to lose a friend." He said coldly before turning to face the other terrified rebels. "Good. So we have decided to leave Mariah to the government, right?" Max was about to stand up in protest but Emily pulled him back down. Kai raised an eyebrow and stared calmly at the visibly infuriated American. "Right?" He repeated angrily and everyone nodded as Kai smiled thinly. "Excellent. Dismissed." He said before pressing in a combination on a wall-placed plate and entering his room as the door opened out of nowhere. Tyson stayed in the Operations Room as Kai entered his room and muttered expletives about Kai before searching for a map showing where the government's control center was located. "Time to take things into my own hands." He mumbled and ran out of the room, heading for the garage.  
  
11:57, Garage, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Tyson punched in a code on a vault and hummed a tune as the vault's door opened. He hastily grabbed a sleek black suit from within the secured vessel, whistling in awe as he felt the nearly frictionless material of the jumpsuit. Zipping up the jet-black jumpsuit, Tyson flexed his gloved hands and tightened his collar. He grinned and ran up to his heavily modified motorcycle, simultaneously grabbing a fast-firing rifle from a rack. "Yeah!" He shouted and started up the vehicle, activating various speed boosters and feeds. He put on a fiery red helmet and zoomed out of the opening garage door. He tapped a button on the side of the dashboard and hung on for dear life as the ultra-unstable mixture of hydrogen, nitrous oxide and a special fluid created by Kenny blasted his motorcycle onto the fields of China. He slowly removed his left hand from the sleek and responsive controls and readied his rifle for battle. "I may be no Ray, but I'm coming for you, Mariah!" He yelled as his blur of a form zipped across the beautiful scenery around him.  
  
12:46, Government Control Center, Outskirts of Shanghai, China  
  
Tyson delivered a sleeper grapple on an unsuspecting government guard and silently thanked Ray for teaching him various fighting styles and techniques. He rubbed his hands excitedly and stealthily crept through the vast Government Control Center. He stood still as the shadows of a pair of guards grew larger and larger with each passing second, mentally preparing for a quick battle. He rolled out in front of two very surprised guards and executed a simple roundhouse kick, sending two unconscious soldiers to the floor. Tyson dragged the two limp bodies into a group of lockers, quickly stashing the unconscious forms in the containers. He saw a larger group of soldiers stroll into sight and hastily clicked a miniscule button on his gloved wrist and nervously watched as red lines appeared and crisscross across his palm like a spider's web. He jumped up as the soldiers turned the corner and his heart beat wildly as they passed without noticing him. Again, He silently thanked Kenny for his ingenious suit and crawled across the ceiling, the red lines acting like suction cups and keeping him above the big group of soldiers. He jumped back down and relaxed a bit as he casually strolled towards an elevator door. Tyson activated another gadget; a laser cutter located on his forefinger, and sliced through the middle of the elevator's doors and pried it open. He crawled into the dim shaft and made his way up the endless darkness, occasionally looking down below him to check on the currently stationary elevator. He removed one of his hands from the dusty wall and pressed on a button located on his hip before pressing another one on his wrist. An ethereal green visor covered his eyes and served as night-vision goggles while his palm's red web turned a bright yellow. Tyson searched for a ventilation shaft and spotted one, climbing up with only one hand attached to the wall. He glued his palm with the golden lines to the ventilation shaft and patiently listened to staticky conversations via mini-receivers in the yellow web. He smiled thinly as he heard a woman talk about a pink-haired girl being held at the fifteenth floor and he promptly reactivated his adhesive red lines. Tyson hastily scaled the wall, the dusty cement beautifully rendered in green due to his visor. His ears perked up as he heard a distinct humming and saw the elevator start to catch up with him. "Why climb when there is an elevator?" He thought optimistically and hopped down onto the top of the elevator. Tyson opened the fire exit and dropped himself onto a guard, grinning at the remaining two technicians. He delivered two chops to their necks and waited as the elevator reached the fifteenth floor. The doors opened and Tyson jumped onto the ceiling of the ride as a man stood in shock at the sight of 3 unconscious people. Tyson flipped himself out and slammed his legs into the man's chest, giving him an impromptu rest from work. Tyson backhanded a truant worker and strolled through the building as though he owned the entire place. He noticed a group of heavily armed soldiers diligently guarding a cell and he shrugged. Tyson removed a grenade from his suit, tossing the customized explosive at the guards. The bomb exploded in a flash of blue and Tyson walked up to the frozen yet conscious soldiers. He punched the icy door and watched as it shattered into millions of white shards. Tyson grinned at the huddled Mariah and held out his hand. "Tyson." Mariah ran up to the visibly embarrassed Tyson and hugged him tightly as he shuddered in slight disgust. "Hey, how about Ray?" He excused himself and pushed away the extremely grateful girl. Mariah wiped away a tear of joy and watched as Tyson set a small bomb on the wall separating them from the outside world. "Stand back. I nearly lost an eye when Max planted a bomb for practice." Tyson warned her and he inched backwards with the trigger in his hand. He clicked and a controlled explosion rocked the base as only the wall of Mariah's detention cell burst into debris, flying outward. Tyson grabbed Mariah's arm and pulled her with him as he jumped off the fifteen-story building, simultaneously activating a low-altitude parachute. He closed his eyes in prayer as the parachute opened itself up and floated them downwards. Mariah gave a small gasp as she saw a slick- haired man walk up to them, his pale skin distinguishing him from Ivan Elmdor. Tyson uttered an expletive as a bullet pierced his shoulder. He pointed to the parked motorcycle and Mariah nodded as he pulled out his rifle. He grimaced as another bullet penetrated his stomach and he returned fire at the government soldier. The man rolled out of the way nonchalantly and twirled his pistol as Tyson reopened fire on the man. The government agent's eyes narrowed as he somersaulted out of the way from the stream of bullets with animal-like agility and shot at Tyson's rifle with uncanny precision. Tyson tossed away the gun and shouted out as another bullet pierced his leg and he crawled away from the smug agent. Mariah suddenly scooped Tyson up as she zipped away from the control center in Tyson's motorcycle. "Activate the boosters! Activate the boosters!" Tyson shouted in panic as the pale man fired at them calmly. He shoved Mariah's arm away and pressed a button on the side of the dashboard, clinging to her waist as they sped off towards the rebel base.  
  
15:37, Infirmary, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Release Ray already. I got Mariah back didn't I?" Tyson pleaded as his branch leader rolled his eyes in frustration. Mariah quickly faced an aggravated Kai and narrowed her eyes. "Release Ray?" She said accusingly. Kai groaned and tossed a bunch of keys to a waiting rebel, ordering the young girl to release the detained Ray. Max shrugged and explained to Mariah. "Er, Ray wanted to rescue you but Kai was, uh, not so keen on risking the rebellion for you." He explained as he glanced at Kai suggestively. Mariah slapped Kai's face angrily and Emily surpressed a small giggle as their leader did not retaliate. She continued out with her help in extracting the bullets from Tyson's body as Mariah slapped Kai's already red face. "Son of a bitch!" She yelled and Max and Tyson burst out into laughter. "You know what? That's what Ray said in the morning." Tyson said and Kai glared at him irately. "I should throw you in that cell for disobeying a direct order but I happen to pity you thanks to your current condition." Kai retorted distastefully and simultaneously grabbed Mariah's hand in mid-slap. He muttered something as Ray entered the room, bruises covering him, and Kai hastily hid a small bat inside of his military jacket. The two former teammates glared at each other for a while as Mariah ran up to Ray and hugged him tightly. Kai sneered in disgust as Ray narrowed his eyes angrily. Max ran up in the middle of the two and pushed them away from each other, smiling sheepishly. "Look, this is no time for fighting." He said nervously as he felt both of the rebels stiffen, ready to punch each other. Emily gave an audible sigh as she checked out Tyson's vital statistics and stared worriedly at her friends. "Tyson needs a blood donor." "WHAT?" Tyson screamed as he heard Emily mutter those 5 words and quickly began to resist the straps keeping him on the bloodied infirmary bed. "Argh! Injections! No!" He yelled as doctors frantically tried to keep him on the cot. Kai walked up to him and pointed a pistol at Tyson's head calmly. "Shut up and I won't pull this trigger." He said coldly as Tyson's mouth quickly snapped shut. "Good. I think a blood transfusion is a lot better than an autopsy." Kai said blandly and walked out of the room, eyeing Ray with hatred. "I hate that guy." Ray said as Mariah wrapped her arms around his waist caringly. Max rolled his eyes and walked out to practice some virtual combat with Draciel. Mariah stopped hugging Ray and walked over to the nervous Tyson, stroking his cheek. Ray made a "Don't even think about it" face at Tyson as the brown-haired rebel blushed under Mariah's hand. She looked at Emily seriously and held out her arm. "I'll be the donor. I think I'm the same blood type as him." She announced and bent over to peck an embarrassed Tyson on the cheek before whispering something in his ear. "I owe you anyway." She added as Ray promptly walked up to Tyson with a false smile. He gulped as Ray made a slicing motion across his throat with a serious face before laughing out loud. Then when nobody was watching he bent down and faced Tyson. "But don't even try to flirt with her, understand?" Tyson nervously nodded as Ray smiled and walked out of the room. 


	4. Splitting apart

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Everyone says that this resembles Future Hope by Galux Kitty. I had this stupid idea ages ago but reading Future Hope kick-started me to write this. Damn coincidence.  
  
10:57, Somewhere in Russia  
  
"Drake, you messed up again." Jex complained as he moved one of his chess pieces. Drake scowled at him and watched as a brown-haired girl grinned and moved one of her knights with finality. "Checkmate, Jex. Looks like I win again." The girl said casually, trying to get under her leader's skin. So far, it was working. Drake suppressed a laugh, as Jex grew red in frustration trying to find a possible escape in his teammate's ingenious play. The blonde government agent gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes as his pale-skinned comrade, Drake, walked up to a board on the wall of the spacious and luxurious room. "67 wins for Sarah, 0 for Jex." Drake announced tauntingly as he added a point under the name Sarah. The brunette girl smirked at Jex before heading out with a pleasant wave. "I'm going to check on the sleeper agents." She explained as Jex and Drake opened their mouths. Jex quickly turned his gaze toward the sad-looking face of Drake, raising an eyebrow. "I see no reason for you to chase that girl around." He said dryly as he noted his friend's vacant stare at the spot where Sarah just left. Drake ran a hand through his slick black hair and walked to the door, frowning at Jex. "2 years of training together and I don't even get one kiss." He complained and his leader rolled his eyes. "Why did it have to be me? I'm Drake, military agent! I should be able to forget about her!" Jex coughed and Drake quickly glared at him. The blonde agent made a sarcastically apologetic smile and pulled out a pistol, twirling the shiny black gun in his hand. "Apparently not." Jex muttered under his breath as Drake sighed in depression. "Oh well, off to upgrade Riwin." He excused himself as Jex reached for a laptop on the floor. He tossed it to Drake and his comrade caught it with one hand, displaying the fruits of their extensive training. "Yeah, whatever." Jex said nonchalantly, grabbing a red apple and tossing it up and down. In a flash, a gunshot echoed through the halls of the building and the apple fell to the floor with a resounding thud as Jex noted its bullet hole. "Score for the master." Jex complimented himself as he twirled the black pistol in his hands happily.  
  
2 months later, 13:29, Kai's room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Kai tapped his keyboard impatiently as he downloaded a particularly large cache of upgrades for Dranzer. It was a well-known fact that Dranzer was the most skilled and powerful bitbeast in the Central China branch with Driger a close second. Kai intended to keep it that way. He smiled thinly as the download completed and he quickly copied all of the files onto Dranzer's storage space. Kai noticed a little symbol on the bottom of his monitor and realized that he had received mail. He simultaneously opened up a list of weapon uploads and his email, humming a funeral song. Scanning the lengthy weapons list and mentally taking note of some, Kai read the email from Kenny. "Damn!" He shouted as Kenny's letter revealed extensive damage to their computer systems. "Good, he deleted the firewalls." Kai muttered as he read through the email. "They're working on the frozen servers." (A/N: Hey shadow wulf! Guess who!) He said quietly before closing the window and accessing Dranzer. "Get to work on solving who's doing this. This is obviously an inside job." He explained as Dranzer's face nodded on his monitor. Kai uploaded an upgraded version of the sniper rifle his bitbeast frequently used and opened up a database containing the personal information of all of the Central China branch rebels. His eyes glanced at Dranzer, warily strolling through a 3D view of the frozen server, noting all the virtual snow covering the floor. He continued on scanning the list without success. "Kai, nothing here." Dranzer said, shivering due to the digital cold. "Same here. I'll run a personal check on the rebels." Kai answered as Dranzer sent himself back to his email address. "Sure. By the way, it appears Driger has taken a liking to the, er, form of Galux now." Dranzer replied and Kai gave an involuntary gasp. "What? You bitbeasts can actually like other bitbeasts?" He spat out and Dranzer rolled his eyes. "Just because we are now digital doesn't mean we're emotionless." The bitbeast replied angrily as his master quickly apologized. "Sorry. It just pissed me off 'cause their masters are obviously in love and that already ticks me off." Kai replied and Dranzer frowned in distaste. "Yeah. I mean, they'll eventually ditch the rebels for their own pleasure. Bastards." Dranzer added and ended the conversation, closing his window for some rest. Kai smiled thinly at the idea and walked out to commence a few quick interviews.  
  
13:30, Max and Emily's room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Max wrapped his arms around Emily's waist as she borrowed his computer for some net surfing. "Watcha looking for?" He asked and removed a stray blonde hair from his eyes. "Government intelligence reports, tip- offs, that kind of thing." She replied casually and Max shrugged. "You never really told me why you came here." He whirled the computer chair around so that she would be face to face with him. She blushed as she did with Kai and stood up before walking over to Max's bed. She sat down and stared at the questioning eyes of Max before blushing profusely again. The blonde American sighed in defeat and closed his computer before sitting down beside Emily. "All those interrogation tactics and I can't get an answer out of you." He said sheepishly and scratched his head. They both raised an eyebrow as they suddenly saw Kai walk in front of their shared room and head towards the cafeteria. (A/N: This is becoming like school.) A thought hit Max and he stared at Emily with purpose in his eyes. "Are you scared of me? You know, like you are with Kai." He asked and Emily took a deep breath. She stared back at him and walked over to the door, shutting it and keeping their conversation safe from the eavesdropping Tyson. "Max, uh, I never told you because I was afraid." She replied, shuffling her feet. "Eh?" Max said, still not in complete understanding. She took a deep breath again and continued. "I was afraid that you would reject me if you knew I only came here to see you again." She admitted and braced for a sudden punch or anything. Instead, Max planted a kiss on her lips and hugged her tightly. "Imagine if I actually decided to go through with leaving to guys to visit you." He said softly in Emily's ear, rubbing her back. "Good thing I had second thoughts." Just at that moment, when Max was leaning towards Emily, Kai burst in the room and looked around frantically before turning on them. Emily hastily put as much distance between her and Max, shooting a longing glance at him. He replied with an apologetic one and jerked his head towards Kai in a symbol of irritation. Kai raised an eyebrow and coughed loudly. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything." He asked and they both shook their heads in response. "Good, 'cause I'm already in a foul mood thanks to Ray and Mariah. You guys are the only ones with the wits to remain focused on the rebellion!" Kai continued as Max gave an audible gulp. "Anyway, I'm looking for this boy who walks around in a red sleeveless shirt, black pants, black gloves and a bandana. Oh, he also has this weird red dragon talisman connected to a silver chain. Seen him?" Kai asked with a false smile. Emily croaked out a "No" and twiddled her thumbs, occasionally staring at Kai and at the door. Kai sighed and mumbled something before slowly walking out of their room. Max rolled his eyes and promptly leaned over to Emily when Kai's head suddenly popped out from behind the door. "Oh, and Emily, sorry for being rude when you visited. I thought you would end up like that whore Mariah." He gave pleasant thumbs up and Max clutched his chest in slight fear. The blonde American turned to Emily and looked at her in worry. "Maybe we can hold this off until Kai finds that boy and stops popping into rooms." He suggested and Emily nodded in agreement.  
  
14:12, Rebel Server, Virtual World  
  
Driger's hands sifted through the dense virtual snow as he helped the ongoing investigation and repairs of the frozen rebel server. He sighed and sat down on the snow, exhausted from his never-ending search. Driger slowly stood up again and reexamined the same snow he had been searching through for an hour already. He bowed his head and faced the endlessly white ground, concentrated on his duty. Suddenly, Driger slammed into another bitbeast and fell flat on the icy floor. "Oh! I'm sorry." Driger smiled thinly as he grasped the hand of Galux, standing back up. "No, I should have watched where I was going. It's entirely my fault." Driger said with a smile on his face. Galux frowned and rubbed her hands together to create some warmth. "You act just like Ray from the real world." She commented as Driger continued with his search for any clues as to who might have frozen their servers. Driger stopped and faced Galux, raising an eyebrow. "Eh?" He said modestly and the female bitbeast behind him laughed a bit. "Mariah says that Ray is the most wonderfully humble, kind and sweet person she knows." Galux said in response while she straightened out her long pink hair that obviously had an uncanny resemblance to Mariah's. Driger pretended to throw up and he fell again, laughing hysterically. "Hahaha! Ray thinks that Mariah is the most independent, headstrong and dangerously cunning girl he knows!" Driger said through erratic bursts of laughter. Galux doubled up as well and laughed beside the white tiger bitbeast. "I can't believe that Ray thinks Mariah is independent!" "I have no idea why Mariah thinks Ray is humble! Arrogant human!" They both exclaimed, causing even more laughter. Driger clutched his digitized chest and panted for air. "Humans can be so blind." He commented and Galux nodded in agreement. Driger raised and eyebrow and stared thoughtfully at the virtual sky. "They even try to make us look like them. Take this yin-yang cloth for example." He observed, pointing to a strip of cloth that was identical to the one on Ray's forehead. Galux stroked her long pink hair but pointed to her Chinese shirt that was a clone of the one Mariah wears. "The pink hair came with the process of being digitized but the shirt is purely Mariah's idea." The two bitbeasts stared at each other for a short while but their thoughts were interrupted by a gunshot. Driger quickly ran up to Galux and inspected a nasty bullet hole in her right leg. He stroked her head as she clutched her wound. Driger's eyes immediately narrowed and he looked up to see a bitbeast, twirling a gun, standing on a virtual pillar. "That was for forgetting your duties." Dranzer said coldly and he pointed his sniper rifle at Galux's other leg. Driger clenched his fists and calmly responded. "How about you? You're not doing anything." Dranzer raised an eyebrow and extracted something that looked like a microchip from his pocket. "I suppose. All I did was discover that the assailants were a team of bitbeasts, related in some way, caused this damage." He stated, brushing some dirt of his black cape smugly. Driger quickly gritted his teeth and made a gesture towards the injured form of Galux. "But why did you have to shoot her?" Driger said angrily but stopped himself from attacking Dranzer because of a lack of weaponry. Dranzer smiled thinly at the defiant female bitbeast and growled at Driger. "You like her in the same way that your bastard of a master, Ray, likes that whore, Mariah. I'm so disgusted by your obvious lack of focus." Dranzer said and struck the final straw for Driger. "Don't even think about calling my master a bastard! You can never be half the anything he is!" Driger shouted in sheer rage and nearly punched Dranzer's face. The phoenix bitbeast avoided the punch and grabbed Driger's arm, tossing him back down to the ground. "I know. How can I be half of nothing?" Dranzer said calmly but a shot from behind sent him toppling to the floor. Draciel and Dragoon approached their leader's bitbeast, a pistol in each of their hands. "Dranzer, get the hell out of here." Dragoon said with utter distaste and watched as Dranzer dissipated into thin air. Draciel ran up to Driger and Galux and quickly opened up a portable medical kit. "You have to stop fighting with him! There is no way you can beat him without support!" Draciel advised to the visibly frustrated Driger. Dragoon surpressed a snigger as he saw Galux look at Driger questioningly and watched the white tiger bitbeast blush profusely. "Like master, like bitbeast. At this rate, Tyson and I will be the only single guys in our happy little group with the exception of the terrible duo of Kai and Dranzer. Lucky us!" Dragoon thought happily and fired shots into the air for fun. (A/N: Blissfully ignorant of everything else. I wonder why I like that attitude?)  
  
15:27, Somewhere in Russia  
  
"The sleepers say that there is increased tension between Kai and Ray. We may be able to exploit this particular weakness." Sarah quickly returned her cellphone inside her jeans pocket and stared intently at her comrades. Jex raised an eyebrow and moved one of his black rooks all the way across the marble chessboard, closing in on Ivan's king, where he and his leader's son were playing. He grinned triumphantly at Ivan before turning to face Sarah. "We work behind the scenes again and subtly push both of them to murder." He suggested casually, as he was used to plotting people's deaths. Drake smiled thinly and tossed a pear up and down, eventually slicing it in half with a concealed knife in his sleeve. "Either way, one of the most powerful rebels we have ever met will be disposed off. It's a win-win situation." Drake said as he caught the 2 pear slices in both of his pale hands. The three government agents turned to the relaxed son of their boss, who they respected more than his arrogant father. "Then the rebels will have to go out of their secret little hole and bury one of them. At that point, our sleepers will pinpoint the rebel base's location and we strike, stealthily and unnoticed." Ivan said calmly while moving a bishop right through Jex's defenses and trapping his king. "Checkmate, I believe." He added as Jex slammed his fist into a desk, visibly frustrated by his loss. Sarah clapped in approval as Drake silently munched on one of his pear slices. Ivan brushed some dirt off his deathly black shirt and stared at his subordinates, grabbing a juicy orange from a basket. Sarah bit her lip and held up a finger. "Was it a good idea to hire mercenaries as sleepers? Even worse, those two are brother and sister." She asked and Ivan narrowed his eyes coldly, tightening his grip on the fruit as everyone in the room paused to see his reaction. "It doesn't matter. I shall eliminate all of them with that wonderful cache of weapons in our storage." He gritted his teeth and squashed the orange, watching its juices drip on the floor. "Nobody stops me." He said threateningly and Drake promptly stopped chewing his pear, slightly frightened. Ivan's mouth snapped back to a pleasant smile and he rubbed his hands, wiping away the orange juice. "Now then, back to business. Jex, practice your shooting skills in the execution chamber. The executioner died of a heart attack today and we need a replacement." He ordered cheerily and Jex stood up, simultaneously saluting him. Ivan turned to Sarah and pointed to Drake. "Sarah, get Ris and battle Drake's Riwin. Jex and Rizel have already surpassed both of you in virtual combat." He two agents saluted him briefly before pulling out disc cases and running out of the room. Ivan sighed and ran a hand through his amazingly black hair while looking out the humongous window of the room. "Time to get rid of the biggest obstacle of all." Ivan closed his eyes and pulled out his cellphone, dialing his father's number.  
  
My bad guys are so freaking evil! Especially Ivan the Demented. 


	5. Realizations

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Self-promotion time: Read my other fics. (Counterforce and The Best of the Best) I find the battles and technology there also cool. Note: Thanks for all the great reviews!  
  
13:01, Cafeteria, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Darn. . . I got the infamous chicken sandwich today." Tyson complained as he sat beside, Max, who was diligently scanning rebel rosters on his antiquated laptop while chewing on a pencil. "Maybe Kai should make Emily sleep in another guy's room. She has one hell of an effect on you!" Tyson commented through mouthfuls of horrible tasting chicken meat. "NO!" Max shouted suddenly at the exact time Tyson decided to swallow a particularly large piece of the disgusting food. A portion of regurgitated chicken flew across the room as Tyson nearly choked, gluing itself to Kai's head. Tyson ducked under the table as Kai pulled the piece of meat off his head and scanned the room with narrowed eyes. He groaned as he saw tufts of Tyson's hair peeking out from behind a table and sat down quietly. "Whew! That was a close one!" Tyson commented as he stood up and scratched his nose, looking over Max's shoulder. "I personally know everybody in this branch. I know it's an insider but all of them were screened dozens of times in the past." Max thought aloud and Tyson clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Of course they're all trustworthy! It's not like Kai doesn't pick who comes in our base." Tyson said, gesturing towards their sick-looking leader. Tyson raised an eyebrow and noticed an unfinished chicken sandwich near Kai's seat. He nodded in understanding as Max quickly entered another search topic. "Looks like I'm not the only one who got the dreaded sandwich." He observed while Max stopped chewing on the pencil and started to ponder over Tyson's words. An idea slammed into him like 50 tons of burning beavers riding on a runaway train zipping across a highway in the middle of summer. (A/N: I felt like a joke.) His fingers danced to music of inspiration as he realized who the culprits were. "Tyson! You're a genius!" Max exclaimed as his cursor connected with the link to the rebel database of the Northern China branch. Tyson scratched his head and whispered something in Max's ear. "You need professional help. That was already proved impossible." He said worriedly as Max nearly burst like bubble in excitement. "No. Of course Kai didn't pick anybody who might betray us! It was those volunteers from the Northern China branch!" Tyson's eyes widened in shock and he promptly punched Max on the head. "I can't believe you don't trust Mariah! She's our friend!" He said accusingly and was about to hit Max when his fellow rebel held up a hand. "Yep, it is impossible for you to be a genius. Don't you get it? Dranzer said there were two bitbeasts, which means that there are two insiders." Max explained and Tyson scratched his nose again in plain stupidity. "I can't believe that Kai didn't see this! He gave us all the clues!" Again, Tyson was completely dumbfounded by his ecstatic teammate. "And the point is?" Tyson held up a finger in question and Max whacked himself on the head. "Tyson, there are two insiders. There were two other rebels that came with Mariah. Kai did not choose both of them. Does that make sense now?" "Not a single word." Max began to pull out his blonde hair in frustration at his utterly immature and brain dead comrade. "The two people who came with Mariah are the insiders who sabotaged the servers and planted the firewalls!" Max shouted out in aggravated anger and Tyson shrunk under him. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Tyson asked meekly and Max shrugged. "It seemed more dramatic and interesting to act like a detective." "Good point. Want the rest of my sandwich?" "After tasting what a pencil's eraser tastes like, the answer is a definite yes. I'm starved for some real food." "The cafeteria's chicken sandwich does not qualify as real food. But it'll do just fine." "Okie dokie! I better eat quickly and warn the other guys so hand the goods over, Tyson." Max said before stuffing his mouth with food and running out the cafeteria as two pairs of cold brown eyes watched them from the shadows. "They're on to us, sis." A male voice said and a younger, female voice replied coldly. "Change of plans now, bro. We move now." "I'll attack the bitbeasts. You go after Ray and Mariah first, all right?" The first voice responded coldly as the duo disappeared into the darkness of the shadows.  
  
13:32, Ray's Room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Ray grimaced in pain as he traced a huge scar racing down his chest. He sighed and removed his white shirt, noting his multiple wounds that came from being a soldier, er, and extra-curricular activities. He was examining his battered yet muscular physique in the body-length mirror when he heard a female voice behind him. "Ray, you have so many wounds." Ray whirled around with narrowed eyes but relaxed when he saw that it was just Mariah. He sat down on the relatively comfortable bed and nodded in response. "I am a soldier." Mariah sat down beside him and observed all the scars that definitely did not come from war. She stared into his golden eyes seriously and looked at the floor. "Some of them are from fighting with Kai, aren't they, Ray?" She asked worriedly and Ray stood up angrily, punching the cement floor in frustration. "So what?" He replied, irritated by the topic of the discussion. Mariah massaged his shoulders reassuringly and nibbled his ear. Ray relaxed a bit and paced the room. "He thinks I'm becoming overly lax with the rebellion because of. . ." Ray trailed off, looking at the questioning Mariah. "Me." She finished for him and she stared at the floor dejectedly. "It's all right, Mariah. I don't care about what he thinks." Ray wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek comfortingly. "As long as I'm with you." He added and she smiled briefly. "How touching. Cut the crap and stand still." A girl dressed in a black sleeveless shirt twirled a silver chain attached to an icy blue phoenix talisman. Ray put his fists up reflexively and edged to the side to protect Mariah. The girl extracted a pistol from her pocket and pointed it at Ray's forehead. "Oh, my name is Ice. Just in case you live long enough to recount this experience." The girl added before her finger closed in on the trigger. A hand twisted her arm behind her back and Ice somersaulted over her attacker, freeing her from the assailant's grasp. "Ray, take Mariah somewhere safe. Both of you are in no position to fight." Kai's cold voice said as he blocked a punch from his skilled opponent. Ray hesitated before grabbing Mariah's arm and pulling her out of the room as Kai drove back the saboteur. Kai glanced over his shoulder to see if Ray was taking Mariah somewhere safe when Ice released a concealed blade in her jeans as she kicked Kai in the stomach. Kai doubled in pain as Ice withdrew the knife from his stomach and he backhanded her, sending the girl flying across the hall. He put on a burst of speed and rushed at the mercenary, slamming into her with a flying kick that echoed throughout the base. Ice wiped blood off her mouth and smiled thinly when an alarm sounded. "Looks like my brother's working exceptionally fast today." She said before catching Kai's leg in midair as he tried to attack her again. She stabbed him again with the blade in her pants as Kai's blood splattered across the floor. Kai clutched his injured leg and used his other one to slam his knee into her face. Spinning in midair, he swiped at her with an extended fist and watched as she crashed into a couple of chairs in the hallway. The girl pulled out another pistol from her jeans and pointed it at Kai, inching backwards as Kai picked up a broken chair and used it to deflect all of her bullets. Kai limped over to her and raised his fist when the girl punched him in the stomach, aggravating his injury. She punched him in the face and cut his arm with her switchblade when he grabbed the empty pistol from the floor. He smiled as the hilt of the gun slammed smack on Ice's forehead, knocking her out instantly. "I cannot lose." He said before twirling the gun and limping off to the infirmary for some medical attention.  
  
14:14, Virtual Combat Room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Tyson shouted at his computer screen as he watched Trygator fly across the rebel web page as a bitbeast in orange and red armor blasted fireballs at the stunned rebels. Ray rushed into the room with Mariah and looked at her intently before slotting in his bitbeast's combat data. Emily whirled around in her chair and stared at the late arrivals in frustration. "Where were you? Trygator's already down for the count!" She said and Mariah bit her lip nervously as she watched Galux appear onscreen along with Driger. "Yeah, we needed your help ages ago!" Max added but still remained focused on the screen where Draciel was holding out against the attacking bitbeast's fiery attacks. A second later, the bitbeast leaped over to Draciel and shot a fireball right in his face, sending the defensive bitbeast crashing into the toppled Trygator. Max sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair as he watched the remaining three bitbeasts try to battle the superior enemy. Dragoon rolled to the side and jumped backwards as fire scorched the virtual ground in front of him. He fired a dozen or so rounds of ammunition at the bitbeast but an icy shield appeared out of nowhere. Two faces came online, one an irritated boy's face and an injured girl's face. "Ice! I thought you got rid of Ray and Mariah." The boy said angrily as his bitbeast walked over to an icy blue bitbeast carrying a large rifle. "I ran into Kai, Blaze. I had to use the switchblade on him." "Oh, poor man. Nobody's ever survived the poison on the edges of that knife." Blaze said while rubbing his black ponytail. The girl nodded and introduced their bitbeasts. "Pardon our manners but this is Blizzice and this Fieryanzer." She gestured towards the duo of bitbeasts, who promptly bowed. Dragoon yelled out in frustration as he unleashed a volley of bullets at the smug bitbeasts. "Fieryanzer, Pyro Blades." Blaze said tiredly and Dragoon's bullets disintegrated upon impact with a wall of fire. Dragoon was sent spinning through the air as Blizzice blew smoke off the top of her rifle. "Arrogant idiot." The female bitbeast said as Dragoon crumpled into a heap beside Driger. The white tiger bitbeast narrowed his eyes and lunged at Blizzice but a quick swipe sent him rolling across the ground. Ray bit his lip nervously and closed his eyes in thought as he watched Fieryanzer leap over to him and blast Driger with a fireball for good measure. The two mercenaries turned to face Galux and they scoffed at her feeble-looking knives. "Get real, little girl." Blaze taunted her as his bitbeast caught her lunge and tossed her to Blizzice, who happily gave her a dose of icicles from her hand. "Blizzice, Fieryanzer, combination technique: Override." Both of the sleeper agents said calmly and the two bitbeasts glowed faintly as the charged their energy. Tyson slumped in his seat and closed his eyes in surrender. "It's impossible to win this. They have those weird powers and such!" He moped and an appalled silence filled the room. "Not yet." Flaming arrows slammed into Blizzice and she flew all the way across the web page. Driger, the only one still moving, stood up slowly and stared up at Dranzer with his palm open, slightly smoking. "Idiots. Use your beyblading techniques." Dranzer said as his palm grew fiery red. He shouted as he unleashed a barrage of fire, which Fieryanzer happily absorbed. "What type of former beyblader doesn't know that a fiery bitbeast like mine absorbs fire?" Blaze said cockily and returned fire at Dranzer as the phoenix bitbeast threw a high-power grenade at Fieryanzer. The results were catastrophic. Dranzer was burnt to a crisp and landed, unconscious or maybe even deleted, on Dragoon. Fieryanzer was still alive but unable to move as the explosive completely cooked his legs. "Blizzice, get Driger and our mission will be complete." Ice ordered with finality and watched her brother recall his injured bitbeast. Blizzice pounced at Driger calmly as the white tiger bitbeast shook, staring at all his fallen comrades. "My friends are down because of these damn government agents. . . It's payback time!" He thought as his palm glowed faintly, a strange tiger paw emblem appearing on his palm. Ray, too, was experiencing strange muscle spasms as he watched his friends stare sadly at their injured bitbeasts unable to even send them back to their email addresses. Tyson, pounding the desk in defeat. Mariah, watching Galux twitch on the screen. Max, trying to send something helpful to his bitbeast. Emily, silently praying that Trygator was still alive. He gritted his teeth as he watched Blizzice leap across the web page with unbelievable speed and get ready to attack his also infuriated bitbeast. "Driger! Tiger Claw!" He shouted and memories of their past as beybladers rushed through his mind like a breaking dam. Driger's eyes narrowed milliseconds before Blizzice's lethal swipe connected and he dodged the attack with unearthly prowess. His fist glowed and an ethereal tiger claw covered it as he delivered an awesome punch at Blizzice's stunned jaw, sending her into the virtual oblivion. The siblings on their screens muttered expletives before going offline and leaving the combat room. Driger's body glowed as he tried to control the raging energy he unleashed and the exhausted bitbeast promptly fainted. Ray closed his eyes as everyone stared at their screen in disbelief before turning to gaze at Ray. Tyson scratched his nose and broke the awkward silence. "Well, that was fun." He commented and everybody in the room glared at him angrily.  
  
15:56, Somewhere in Russia  
  
Jex slammed his fist into the wall in frustration as Drake read the note from the sleepers aloud. "Shit! Ivan's going to be so goddamn mad when he learns this." Jex complained, closing his eyes briefly. "There is no need for curses, Jex. We'll come up with a better plan." Sarah said calmly as she peeled an apple. (A/N: What's with the fruits?) Drake nodded in agreement and began to polish his black rifle. "We don't even have to tell Ivan anyway." "Yes. I already know." Drake quickly scooted off to the other side of the room as Ivan stepped out of the darkness. All three of the government agents saluted Ivan briefly and watched him with tentative eyes. "This is the perfect opportunity to test out my experiments." Again, Sarah was the one to ask a question. "But sir, your father does not approve of such unethical ideas." She said and Ivan pulled out a pistol and calmly pointed it between her eyes. "That bastard doesn't realize that you can't control the world without being unethical. I'll just execute the plan without him knowing." Ivan said and withdrew his pistol to everyone's relief. "Good. Jex, you provide the distraction so they won't notice the energy readings from our experiments. Drake, Sarah, pass me that basket of fruit. I'm hungry." Ivan said pleasantly as he sat down on a chair.  
  
Are you satisfied, shadow wulf? If you're not, don't worry! The duo of mercenaries is still going to be in my fic. 


	6. Obstacles

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Para sa mga putang-inang tao na gumagawa o nagbabasa ng yaoi, sana mamatay kayo sa apoy ng impyerno!  
  
20:35, Somewhere in Russia  
  
Ivan sighed, tucking his hands in his pockets as he entered his father's large and opulent office. Nathan Elmdor, an older version of Ivan, was typing away on his computer when his cold-hearted and sadistically intelligent son coughed to get his attention. "Oh, Ivan. I need to talk to you about something." Nathan said with a mixed tone of surprise and slight anger. Ivan rolled his eyes and stared at his father's cold blue eyes. "You seem to be overstepping your boundaries, Ivan. I told you not to proceed with that unethical idea of yours." The black-haired man said, whirling his revolving chair around to face his son. "Yes, father. However, I happen to be doing something you always wanted me to do." Ivan said, diverting the government's top official's attention to another topic. Nathan raised an eyebrow and leaned forward to catch every single word his child prodigy of a son told him. "I'm getting rid of everything in my way so that I will dominate." Ivan stated simply, slowly reaching inside his pocket. His father smiled happily and praised his son. "Excellent! This will be extremely beneficial for both of us, Ivan!" Nathan said excitedly as his son grinned coldly. "Not really. . ." Ivan muttered under his breath and his father frowned. "Excuse me, son, but I didn't hear that properly." The aging man said and Ivan stood stiff with the air of a military commander. "Father, I shall now eliminate the most unbelievably irritating thing in my way." He stated simply and Nathan raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Oh, and what may that be?" Ivan's eyes burned with the fire of a madman and he pulled out a shiny pistol from his jacket. "You." A gunshot echoed throughout the halls of the government's primary base, the signal for Jex, Drake and Sarah to enter the room. Ivan was smiling maniacally when he ordered Jex to throw out Nathan's bloodied body out of the window. He pointed to Drake and gestured towards the computer with his other hand. "Upload Zealous' data to my creations." He ordered as he crazily felt all the warm blood on his smooth hands, smiling all the while. "Sarah, prepare our troops for battle. We should be expecting Blaze and Ice's report on the whereabouts of the rebel base." Sarah saluted him before running out of the room while Drake typed a few dozen commands onto Nathan's computer. "Now, who's in charge, dad? Who?" Ivan laughed dementedly as he wiped the blood of his father on his face, savoring his twisted victory with every bit of the blood soaking him.  
  
1:47, Outside Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Okay, Emily. Remember, this is only a test. Don't push it." Max's voice crackled in Emily's headset as she started up the prototype mechanized walker Kenny designed. "Yeah." She replied simply as Max gave thumbs up to Kenny, whose fingers were dancing on a complex-looking keyboard. The orange-haired boy returned the gesture as dummy tanks appeared on the battlefield. She closed her eyes in concentration and recalled all of the practice and training she underwent to pilot the prototype. "Onboard system, ZAK, has been activated. Awaiting commands." A mechanical voice said dryly and Emily's two hands punched in a code in both of the keyboards surrounding her. Lights lit up inside the walker's cockpit and Emily narrowed her eyes in concentration. The dark cockpit was lit up as display of the rebels' concealed training ground appeared along with around 14 tanks, bristling with weaponry. Twin joysticks popped out of the floor as a visor covered Emily's eyes, completing the preparations. She pushed the controls to the limit as she skillfully maneuvered away from the dummy ammunition being fired at her from 14 angles. Flipping open a trigger casing, Emily grinned as she fired away with unbelievable precision, decimating 6 tanks in a nova of flames. She pressed hard on floor-located panels and her prototype walker leaped into the air, avoiding bursts of fire. While in the air, she deftly activated two shoulder-mounted missile launchers and destroyed 7 more tanks, leaving a particularly well-armed tank in the middle of the battlefield. As Emily guided her walker down, she fired sporadic bursts of ammunition at the tank, only to find that it had the capacity to dodge the shots. "ZAK! Identify remaining tank!" Emily ordered in frustration as another round of her shots were dodged by a well- timed display of jump jets. She narrowed her eyes as live shells demolished the ground where she was standing just a few moments ago and quickly pressed a button on her headset. "Max, this tank has live ammunition! What's going on?" She asked nervously as more rounds of bullets were deflected off her walker's thankfully thick armor. "I'll tell you what's going on." Max whirled around in his computer chair to face Kai who was clutching his poisoned stomach. "The girl who stabbed me here escaped from our cells and freed her equally dastardly brother. They're piloting that tank over there." Kai stated blandly while pointing to his bandaged stomach and walked over to the door leading to Kenny's private garage. "Kai! Where are you going?" Kenny asked suspiciously as Kai entered his own garage that was brimming with the latest in experimental technology. "Do you know how painful the damn poison was? I want revenge for all those sleepless, agonizing nights I had." Kai responded with a slight tinge of anger in his voice. Max and Kenny sighed and returned their attention to the obviously troubled Emily. Twin cannons fired endlessly at the light blue walker, which was now hued in a burnt brown color. Another leg was blown off as the Gatling gun of the tank shredded the walker's armor and Emily screamed in pain as electricity coursed through the damaged circuitry of the walker and onto her body. "Emily! I'll try to override the tank's attack systems! Just hold on!" Max said nervously, biting his lip as he tried to gain access to the tank's internal systems. "Fieryanzer and Blizzice have established a solid barrier to prevent override from happening. Don't bother." Blaze's cold and sinister voice echoed in Max's ear as he desperately tried to break the nigh-invincible wall the two bitbeasts constructed around the onboard computer of the tank. Emily screamed again as an electrically charged shell exploded on her walker's heavily damaged armor and Max pounded on the desk in frustration. Suddenly, explosions rocked the tank's thick hide and everyone's attention was focused on a helicopter, piloted by a deathly serious Kai. Emily looked up as Kai simultaneously fired an entire cache of weaponry at the tank and frowned, as the tank remained intact after the barrage. He expertly tilted his copter away from Gatling gunfire, readying his secondary weapons. "Max, Kenny, lightning bolt missiles ready for launch. Activate EMP defenses of base before I shoot." Kai said through an old headset and Kenny nodded grimly before running over to a panel on the wall of the control center. He opened the cover of the panel and flipped dozens of switches down, engaging all of the rebel base's revolutionary EMP defense systems. Kenny wiped the sweat off his forehead as he gave thumbs up back to Max with a few seconds to spare. Meanwhile, Emily crawled out of the smoking walker and limped across the battlefield, trying to reach the exit before the tank's weapons noticed her. Kai hesitated as he prayed that Emily might walk a bit faster since he was fighting a losing battle trying to evade the anti-aircraft fire as he diverted Blaze and Ice's attention. He cursed himself for being so lenient and swooped down towards Emily as Max quickly asked why he hadn't fired yet. "Emily, hop in the chopper before they fire!' Kai shouted as he opened the canopy, leaving him as a sitting duck. "Bro, ready the sniper." Ice suggested from within the tank and Blaze waited patiently as a visor covered his right eye, automatically giving a display of Kai's vulnerable head. A trigger popped out of the floor as Blaze narrowed his eyes, ready to drive 14 millimeters of metal through Kai's arrogant little head. Emily noticed a rifle aiming straight for Kai when she jammed the helicopter's control lever down, sending the vehicle flying straight up. She held onto the landing gears as Kai watched a bullet pierce the portion of helicopter that was directly underneath him. He waved gratefully to Emily before spinning his chopper vertically and activating his canopy release at the same time, throwing Emily into the cockpit. "Now I fire." Kai muttered as he fired twin lightning bolt missiles that automatically destroy the target's computer and electrical systems along with those of the surrounding 500 meters. Blaze grinned inside the tank's seat as his sister gave one last effort to move their overloaded vehicle, noting the sparks fly from some wiring above them. "Ice, have you sent the information already?" "Yeah. Nanotechnology is the best." Kai smiled thinly and piloted the helicopter down as an entire group of rebels came rushing out of the exit with protective suits that shielded them from the nauseating effects of mild radiation. Emily gave Kai a quick peck on the cheek but the rebel leader didn't even flinch. "I didn't do this for you. I did it for the rebellion, okay?" He said harshly as Emily folded her arms impudently. She shook in surprise and juggled her fallen headset as Max's voice came online. "Emily, are you all right?" His worried voice came out and Emily glanced at Kai with comical irritation. "Yes, Max. Although Kai seems to be unable to appreciate gratitude." She heard laughter from the other end of the conversation and smiled a bit. "Okay, Maxy. See you in your room later!" She said playfully as Kai raised an eyebrow, unaware of the conversation as he listened to a set of funeral songs over his headset's radio. She heard Kenny's hysterical laughter as he teased Max about his little pet name that Emily had given him. "Yeah, Maxy! Listen to mommy!" she suppressed a giggle as she heard an audible groan of pain as Max promptly hit Kenny on the head. "Shut up, Kenny."  
  
2:30, Somewhere in Russia  
  
Ivan smiled proudly as hundreds of government soldiers marched into state-of-the-art vehicles, ready for deployment. He surveyed the scene under him with satisfaction as his loyal agents stood by his side. "Sir, shall we unveil the secret weapons?" Sarah asked excitedly as she viewed an entire army prepare for actual combat. Drake bit his lip eagerly and winked at their stoic partner, Jex. The blonde American agent smiled as Ivan nodded in agreement. "Jex, Sarah, this is it! We get to show those rebels who really is in control!" Drake whispered with the air of a child about to watch the final episode of his favorite cartoon. "Men!" Ivan shouted out and Sarah quickly nudged him in the ribs. "And women of the government . . ." He added, rolling his eyes. "This time, we will defeat the arrogant rebels with this new addition to our immensely powerful army!" Ivan said officially and the horde of heavily armed soldiers under his elevated stage cheered on their new leader. "It is my pleasure to present to you the experiment we have kept secret for years!" Ivan continued, leaning over to Jex to crack a small joke. "Thanks to my father. . . " Jex stifled a laugh as his young yet calculating leader once again addressed his vast army. He held up a remote control for all to see and smiled before activating the device. Hundreds of heads turned to watch a gate rise and reveal a small group of cloaked humanoid things. "Moritsune! Remove the cloaks!" The tallest one among the hundreds of creatures roared like an animal and every soldier under the thing shed their cloaks, receiving multiple gasps from the crowd. "People, I give you the Vire! The ultimate in close combat fighters!" Ivan pronounced as everyone stared at the inhuman things. Their elongated and thin bodies, which were covered with a combination of greasy rags and dull metal plates, slouched drunkenly as a single cybernetic eye whirred around and around. Their arms were spindly and reminiscent of a spider's legs while their skeletal fingers hid lethal 4-inch blades that sliced through even the most indestructible materials. Legs were loose and relaxed as within was a complex system that combined genetic engineering and advanced mechanics to deliver blistering speeds and jumping heights. The monster's leader was Moritsune, an abnormally tall and erect Vire that seemed to have a metal rod jammed up his spine. "Now that Blaze and Ice, who I shall dispose of later, have revealed the rebel base we will strike at full force! We will be victorious!" Ivan finished and the tense silence surrounding the huge garage lifted and was replaced by cheers and whoops of delight. Ivan turned around to face his proud-looking comrades. Drake smiled happily and patted his leader on the back. "Finally, an exciting speech! Your father was never good at that." Jex said as Sarah walked ahead of her teammates and waved back at them. "I'll prepare Zeus for flight! Meet me at the hangar!" She shouted, referring to the immense airship that was the highlight of the government air force. Drake paused and gave a whoop of childish delight. "Yeah! We get to ride the Zeus for this mission! With that, there is nothing that can stop us!" He exclaimed as Jex grinned in enthusiasm. "Oh, Ivan. I transferred the prototype photon laser cannon to the Zeus. The poor thing was collecting dust inside the lab." Jex admitted and Ivan pulled out his pistols, loading them for battle. "Good. This will be a quick battle." He stared out through a window and viewed the beautifully cold morning atmosphere of Russia.  
  
5:36, Ray's room, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Mariah, wake up! We need to get up now!" Ray shook Mariah awake receiving a bite on the hand in response. (A/N: Why is Mariah sleeping in Ray's room?) "Ow!" he shouted as Mariah rubbed her eyes with one hand, fondly stroking her feline fangs with the other. "Ray?" She said dazedly as Ray pulled her up and stared worriedly into her golden eyes. "Hurry! Were under attack!" He said nervously and Mariah's eyes popped open. She bit her lip and quickly put on one of Ray's military jackets over her nightgown and followed Ray out of his room. "You are Ray Kon, a rebel. Terminate immediately." Ray spun around to come face-to-face with a hideous heap of metal and rags, its thin fingers revealing blades that it sliced at Ray's throat. Ray ducked and rolled backwards as Mariah grabbed some pistols lying on the floor and fired at the creature. The Vire leapt away with inhuman speed and its glowing red eye whirred eerily. Mariah's guns clicked uselessly as Ray grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her away from a ventilation vent above her. Two more of the animal-like Vire jumped down and hissed at the two rebels as they made a desperate attempt to run away from the vicious creatures. A Vire leapt over Ray's head and sliced his shirt into bloody shreds as it readied to kill him with a fatal blow to the head. "Stop right there!" The Vire looked up to meet bullets as Max rolled out from behind a corner and brandished a pair of Magnums in his hand. The remaining Vire strode across the corridor and stared at Max tentatively. Shotgun fire filled the hall as Tyson attacked the other two from behind, loading his shotgun with armor-shredding ammunition. "Mariah, Ray! Kai said we have to go all the way across the base and to the control tower! We'll only make a stop by the armory!" Tyson paused as he noticed Mariah's nightgown. "Er, and by Mariah's room for a quick change." He added as the foursome raced across the halls of their gigantic base. Ray stooped down and picked up a machine gun and an ammunition belt from a dead rebel on the floor before catching up with Mariah. "Ray, what are these things?" she asked and Ray quickly kissed her on the lips to quiet her. "I don't know, but we'll find a way to beat them." He said reassuringly as Max tossed one of his Magnums to Mariah, who hesitated when she caught it. "What? Afraid to kill people?" Ray asked worriedly and Mariah looked up at him with pleading eyes. "I don't have any ammunition with me." She said and Ray stifled a laugh before picking up a magazine full of ammo and handing it over to her. "Ready now?" "Sure. First one to reach 50 kills receives upgrades from the loser." Mariah challenged, flaunting her dangerously attractive personality. "Then that means Driger's going to need a bit more storage for the upgrades he's going to get from you." Ray said playfully as he casually fired a shot at the sneaky human soldier behind them. Mariah turned around and shot the guy in the head, blowing the smoke off her pistol "You wish. I'm up one point already." She said before running after Tyson, who was lobbing a grenade at a Vire. "God! She is so damn hot when she acts like that!" Ray said excitedly as he twiddled Driger's combat data disc inside of his pocket. As he chased Mariah, a lone red eye watched him diligently. "Hotsuma, move your troops to the control tower." Moritsune stepped out from the shadows and immediately chased a group of rebels, slicing through their vulnerable throats in a matter of seconds. "Yes, Moritsune. Ivan is asking about the number of your kills so far. Reply to his request." Another mechanical voice replied as Moritsune's extendable claws smashed into a man's skull. "26 and counting." The Vire leader replied before leaping at another cluster of rebels, his cybernetic eye whirring frenziedly. In a few seconds, 5 human heads rolled on the bloodied floor as Moritsune contacted his subordinate, Hotsuma. "Make that 31." An inhuman laugh filled the rebel base as the monster known as Moritsune waded through the rebel blood he had spilled on the floor.  
  
I believe such graphic violence deserves an R rating. This is a prime example why we must never have wars again and instead hope for peace around the world. BTW, Hotsuma and Moritsune may sound familiar so I will explain. Moritsune and Hotsuma are brothers and enemies in the ninja game, Shinobi. They have such interesting names! Hehehe. 


	7. Man and Machine

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
Sorry for the delay in uploading. I wrote one long chapter, redid some parts and cut it into two.  
  
6:30, Control Tower, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Kai reloaded his trusty sniper rifle and gestured to the few living rebels beside him to aim at the door. Crouched behind a makeshift barrier that consisted of furniture, the several rebels aimed their weapons warily as a spindly arm broke through the steel door with the ease of a boy tearing a paper in half. A dozen more arms blasted through the door and sent debris crashing against the ruined walls of the control tower. "Open fire, sniper team!" Kai ordered and special armor-piercing bullets were sent rocketing out of sniper rifles and at the heads of a couple of the Vire. Unfortunately for Kai's own attack team, the Vire had long since adapted to the human style of flawed shooting and easily deflected the bullets with reinforced finger blades. The animal-like Vire warded off another barrage of bullets and Kai's sweat flooded the floor while the skeletal creatures inched closer and closer. Plans raced through his mind as he reflexively aimed and fired, the fruit of hundreds of hours in training. He was only subconsciously firing as he desperately created and destroyed hundreds of ideas in his brain while his comrades fell to the floor, as cold and dead as the mechanized limbs of their attackers. A bullet ricocheted off a Vire's claws and penetrated the flesh of the rebel soldier shooting beside Kai, grazing a pipe and sending a small cloud of white steam into the air. Kai's eyes instantly narrowed and he set his sights on a small ventilation pipe hanging precariously beside the cluster of nigh-invincible Vire. His last sniper bullet popped a hole in the ventilation pipe like a pin through a balloon, instantly blasting the Vire with a hot jet of steam. Kai tossed away his useless rifle and dug his hands into his jacket to reveal twin semi-automatic pistols, their silver coat shining by the fire of the burning rebel base. His guns clicked, the sound resonating throughout the room, as it promptly made the maddened Vire stop clawing the hot steam around them. Big mistake for the government forces. As a sniper, Kai took every single advantage and capitalized on it. A dozen hideous Vire fell to the floor, oil and human blood mingling together on the floor as Kai twirled his pistols in an arrogant display of victory. His celebration was short-lived though as a Vire's claw cut through his back like a hot knife through butter. Kai's pistols dropped on the floor uselessly as he shouted out in pain. A spindly leg kicked his bleeding back and sent him flying across the room. A Vire with an unusual horizontal line through the middle of its metallic face, replacing the standard cybernetic eye, jumped on the wall like a spider and kicked off, landing on all fours in front of Kai. "Kai Hiwatari, you are an identified rebel and must be eliminated." The monster stated mechanically and raised a set of lethal 4-inch finger blades to Kai's exposed throat. The Vire hesitated and Kai quickly felt in his pockets for something useful as the machine's eye flickered, as though it was receiving something. "Moritsune, I have the rebel leader in my grasp. Shall I terminate him or save him for future use?" A metal plate that Kai assumed worked as a mouth made an inhuman attempt to talk. The red eye flickered again and Kai pricked his ears up while searching for anything helpful, hearing a barely audible crackle. "Hotsuma, terminate him immediately." Kai heard just as he found something, closing his eyes in frustration as he realized he had found his bitbeast's disc. "Well, Dranzer, this is it." He thought out aloud and waited for the sharp edge of the Vire's blades to come slashing through his neck when he heard the mechanized terror choke in pain. Kai's eyes shot open and he watched a tall man clothed in a black cape grab both of Hotsuma's spindly arms from behind. Hotsuma made an enraged growl that was reminiscent of a prehistoric velociraptor when the beast somersaulted over the caped man and kicked him in the back. Kai blinked in surprise as the man also moved with unearthly prowess and jumped backwards just as Hotsuma's kick sent him flying ahead, causing him to slide of the spider- like creature's feet and land behind him. Hotsuma turned around; its red eye flashing angrily as the man calmly aimed a set of pistols at its head. "Die, you Vire." The man said coldly, his voice so familiar to Kai. But the man's impromptu execution of a crucial part of the government's army was interrupted as a huge beam of iridescent light tore a hole through the clouds and blasted a section of the rebel base into smithereens. The glass shattered instantly as immense ripples of sound emanated from the base of the attack and sent Kai, the man and Hotsuma into the wall. Fortunately for the insect-like Vire, it immediately flattened out before hitting the wall and pushed off, jumping through the broken window of the control tower and down to the battle below. Kai groaned in pain as he felt his sore back before the mysterious man held out a hand for support. "Thanks, whoever you are." Kai said gratefully and the man made a very familiar grin. "Don't worry. You know who I am." The imposing man whirled around and his cape wrapped around his tall form before disappearing completely, leaving Kai completely alone in the bloody and destroyed room. "Okay. Now what the blue blazes was that beam?" Kai erased the man and his scuffle with Hotsuma from his mind as he concentrated on the answer to his inquiry.  
  
6:57, Zeus Airship, Above Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Jex's rough fingers expertly guided the humongous airship across the Chinese air as his leader, Ivan, watched with obvious satisfaction from a throne-like seat behind Jex's command console. (A/N: No, the airship doesn't have a large flammable balloon.) Drake and Sarah stood rigid at attention as their services were not required as of now and they stayed content with watching Jex and target another portion of the rebel's burning base. "10 seconds before photon laser cannon has cooled sufficiently for second attack." A technician's voice dictated over a speaker and Jex grinned excitedly as a handle containing the trigger of the immensely powerful photon laser cannon began to glow, its faint radiance casting green shadows on Jex's his hand. "Cannon ready for second attack." The same voice said and Jex flicked open the trigger's protective casing as he lowered the ship to an altitude that would further the damage inflicted by his destructive attack. "Brace yourselves, guys." Jex muttered subconsciously as a visor flitted over to cover his right eye and provide a helpful display of the area that would be destroyed by his photon laser cannon. Ivan smiled and stood up, gesturing Sarah to take his seat just like a gentleman. Drake rolled his eyes and held on to a rail on the airship's walls as Ivan did the same and Sarah sat snugly in his chair. "Okay then, fire!!!" Jex shouted as his finger slammed down on the button, blasting away all the clouds that concealed their airship and burning away another portion of the rebel base as though it was nothing. "Good work, Jex." Ivan said blandly as he nodded in praise at the chaos below his immense terror of the skies, Zeus. "Sir Ivan, Blaze and Ice have arrived." A voice crackled over the speaker system and Ivan turned around to face Blaze and Ice, who had a dangerously calm look on their faces. Blaze folded his arms as Drake secretly began to reach for his lethal wakizashi that was stored in a rack on the wall. "I think our value might be increased if we happened to reveal an important part of the rebel's army." Blaze said as his hand darted into his pockets and revealed a pistol. Ivan raised an eyebrow and held back an infuriated Drake, whose hands were fondly stroking his wakizashi's hilt. "Go." He said simply and Ice pulled out a hologram display from her pocket. "We found a hologram showing the blueprints for an airship that even surpasses this in output, capacity and power." Blaze rolled his eyes and pointed to the control tower. "The machine is stored below that control tower. If you try to kill us, our nanomachines are rigged to send a warning to the rebels." He finished for his sister and Ivan grinned. "Fine then, from now on, you're under my direct command." Ice and Blaze laughed coldly and shook their heads. "Sorry, were doing this for cash. Don't believe we'll stick around after this." Ice said simply before retreating into the depths of Zeus along with her brother. Drake mumbled something before slashing the air in front of him with rapid and well- practiced strokes. Jex leaned back and turned to face his three comrades, stretching his arms. "Hey, why don't Drake and Sarah grab the Frames and attack their airship? The photon laser cannon's overheated anyway and we need a way to destroy the rebel airship." He suggested and Ivan smiled evilly in agreement. "I'm beginning to think you guys are surpassing me in terms of intelligence." Ivan said simply and a big grin crept across Jex's face. "You're saying I'm smart and that were going to use the Frames?" Jex asked excitedly and Ivan rolled his eyes. "No and yes. Sarah, Drake, get the Frames ready in case they launch the airship." He said officially and walked over to the splendid view of the Chinese early morning sky highlighted by the fires of the rebel base. "Nice view!"  
  
7:03, Control Tower, Rebel base, Shanghai, China  
  
Tyson nearly slipped as he made a sharp turn and quickly ran inside the ruined control tower, Ray, Mariah and Max following him. Ray pulled up a broken piece of metal and jammed into the door just as the bloodthirsty Vire sliced at the air behind him. He promptly collapsed on Mariah's lap and crawled over to a gun on the floor. "About time reinforcements arrived." The four rebels whirled around to see Kai, tending a wound on his back in the shadows of a corner. "You protected the control tower alone?" Max asked in disbelief and Kai pointed to a pile of human bodies in the other corner. "Those guys only lasted the first wave. I had to fend of the other 7." He said, his voice tinged with exasperation. Max picked up a rifle on the floor and loaded it up with ammunition. "Well then, we'll help you out until Kenny explains why we need to be here." He said cheerily in spite of all the chaos and war around them. Tyson stooped down and picked up a pair of submachine guns, tossing one to Mariah and keeping one for him. "Yeah! We're all here anyway." He said and Ray scratched his head in puzzlement. "Aren't we missing someone?" He said and stared at his teammates with a questioning face. Max's jaw dropped and he buried his head in his arms. "Emily . . ." He said and closed his eyes in hope that she was still alive somewhere. "Don't worry! I got a transmission from her from over there!" Tyson said reassuringly and furthered Max's depression when he gestured at the burnt remains of a portion of the rebel base outside the smashed window. "I could be wrong." Tyson said sheepishly when Ray and Mariah glared at him. Kai raised an eyebrow, puzzled over Max's emotional reaction to the apparent loss of Emily. But their thoughts were interrupted when a tall and oddly erect Vire smashed the makeshift wall down with a blow from his spring-loaded legs. The Vire that previously attacked Kai followed in the tall Vire's shadow, swaying back and forth at the sight of Kai. "Hotsuma." Kai said blandly and cocked his trusty and reloaded sniper rifle. Mariah stood up and held out her rifle along with Ray and Tyson. "C'mon, Max! Get up!" Tyson hissed as he fired a warning shot at the imposing Vire, whose hand flicked off the bullet casually. "I won't even bother to identify you rebels. I know who you are already." The erect Vire said before clenching his thin hands. "Mariah, Tyson, fire!" Ray shouted suddenly and the tall Vire smirked, as his hands became an impenetrable shield, darting here and there and deflecting all of the shots fired at him and his comrades. The clang of a bullet echoed through the ears of everyone in the room as the tall Vire felt a crack in his metal faceplate. Kai lowered his smoking rifle as he swore the tall Vire glared at him. "Hotsuma! Get Hiwatari!" "Yes, Moritsune." The apparent leader of the Vire shouted angrily at Hotsuma, who promptly lunged at Kai, ripping away the gun. The rebels instantly turned to face their leader, who had suffered another blade injury in his stomach and was bleeding profusely. Moritsune made an unearthly growl and immediately threw a punch at Mariah, cutting through her shoulder. Another Vire delivered a flying kick at Ray that snapped the bones in his arm. Hotsuma leapt away from Kai slashed at Tyson's chest, shredding his shirt and spilling his blood on the floor. Moritsune moved like the devil and kicked each of the rebels, aside from Max, in the back with inhuman force, sending them across the room and to lay crumpled in a heap beside the pile of dead bodies. The leader of the Vire, Moritsune, walked towards Max and lifted him by the collar of his shirt. He raised his lethal blades and pointed them at Max's exposed throat, grinning underneath the layers of his faceplate. "Any last requests?" Moritsune's mechanical voice crackled and his cybernetic eye whirred frenziedly. Max blinked away a tear and bit his lip. "I want to see Emily before you kill me." He finally whispered and Moritsune hesitated, apparently calculating something in his little cyborg mind. "Does not compute." Ray put a hand over Mariah's eyes and Tyson made an effort to turn around as Moritsune's hand moved with blistering speed to Max's throat. "Aaiieeee!" Moritsune's entire arm was blown off, as bullets ripped through him like a pin through a balloon. Hotsuma whirled around to face the assailant and suffered a shot to the head as gunfire blazed through the room. "Wish granted." Max opened his eyes to see a blue walker hovering outside the control tower, the canopy opening to reveal the face of . . . "Emily!" Max shouted as the walker tore fired at the remaining Vire, its huge bullets littering the floor. "Guys! Head to the door on the other side of the room!" Kenny's voice said, static mixed with his statement. Kai nodded and pulled Tyson up to his feet as the rebels watched the door open to reveal a walkway that led to nothing. Emily hopped out of the walker and ran after Max as Mariah and Ray got to their feet. "But there's nothing there!" Kai shouted as he approached the sheer drop to the ground. "Wait a sec!" Kenny's voice said and Kai and Tyson hesitated as they saw a door slowly rise up. "Now, head for that door!" He commanded and everyone sprinted for the end of the walkway. "Hurry! The enemy is beginning to att. . . Kzzattzzz . . ." The walkway began to tilt as enemy fire concentrated on the platform. Kai leapt onto the other side as Tyson nipped at his heels. "Faster!" He shouted as Emily nearly slipped on the angled floor, only to be pulled up by Max. The two jumped onboard just as another barrage of ammunition exploded against the walkway, making Mariah fall down. Across the walkway, Moritsune's eyes flickered briefly as his clawed hands grabbed a rifle from the floor while Mariah staggered to get up. "Must terminate." His voice faded out as a bullet streamed from the rifle and pierced Mariah's leg. "Mariah!" Ray whirled around and glanced behind him to see their friends slowly move away from them as the object they were on started to move. He bit his lip, cursed, and carried Mariah on his shoulder, desperately trying to reach the opposite side. He stopped at the edge, unsure if he could make the jump with Mariah on his shoulder and punched the wall in frustration. "Max! Catch!" He shouted back at the blonde American, tossing Mariah across the gap and he smiled thinly as she landed safely in Max's arms. "Hurry, Ray!" Emily said worriedly and Ray made a running leap for the edge of the giant moving object, his arms outstretched. "Ray, please make it!" Mariah shouted with fear in her voice as Ray's hands closed in on the huge vehicle they were on. A shell exploded against the side of the flying machine and it was jolted to the side causing Ray's fingers to slide helplessly on the smooth surface of the airborne device, missing the edge by a few inches. Mariah cried out as he fell to the firefight below them, his hands making a futile attempt to grab onto something. "RAY!!!" She shouted and nearly jumped after him if it wasn't for Kai's holding her back. Max, Emily and Tyson pulled Mariah away from the now closed door and Kai watched her tears stain the floor of the huge vehicle they were on. "Damn." He muttered before walking after his teammates.  
  
7:20, Zeus' hangar, Above Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Sarah strapped on a light blue helmet as Drake zipped up his pilot's suit. She gave thumbs up to him while he put on his own scarlet helmet and she walked over to a sleek, insect-like mechanized combat unit created by the government that was known as a Frame. Aside from the fact that Frames contained revolutionary hover technology, these powerful war machines were basically a physical extension of the bitbeast plugged inside the Frame, increasing the battle potential greatly compared to the manual controls of a normal mech unit. Sarah climbed up a ladder and lightly tapped a translucent portion of the large machine's chest, waiting impatiently as hexagonal shapes appeared on the chest and dissolved to reveal a cockpit. "Sarah, I'm plugging in Riwin already. What's your status?" Drake's voice crackled over her helmet's inbuilt radio and she quickly hopped inside of her cobalt Frame. "Just got in. Open the gate in 30 seconds." She replied as she slotted in Ris' advanced combat data in the cockpit's central computer. The machine flickered to life in front of her, the name "RIS" appearing on every inch of the primarily holographic display inside the Frame. "Good morning, Sarah. It was getting stuffy inside that disc." Ris' voice said happily and Sarah smiled inside her helmet. "I'll transfer your data to a new disc after this battle then." She responded and rested her gloved hands on two spheres with a skeletal image of the palm of a hand giving off a slight glow. The Frame reacted instantly; both human and bitbeast working simultaneously to create the most fluid of motions ever performed by a mech. "Azure seems to be working perfectly." Ris' commented as Sarah's Frame, Azure hovered across the hangar and floated beside the magenta Frame of Drake, Crimson. "Drake has released the gate. Vernier thrusters are now at semi-automatic control." Ris stated blandly as the twin Vernier rockets behind the shoulders of Azure whirred softly, reactants flowing inside. "Drake, you take the lead." Sarah asked and Drake replied positively, activating Crimson's own thrusters. Crimson became a red blur as his Vernier rockets opened up to their full capacity and Sarah quickly followed suit with her own impressive burst of speed. "Jex is activating the autopilot of Zeus and he'll follow shortly. In the meanwhile, incapacitate the rebel airship's defenses." Riwin's cold voice came over the radio and Sarah moved her hand over to a keyboard on the side of her cockpit, tapping in a code that activated dual swords that emanated immense energies and worked just like a laser beam. Azure jetted after Crimson, whose twin blades were out as well, its rockets burning the air behind it.  
  
7:34, Rebel Airship Osiris, Above Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
Mariah was sobbing uncontrollably on her seat as her fellow rebels discussed the amazing vehicle Kenny had created in hushed voices. Max glanced over his shoulder and saw Mariah's knuckles turn bloody as she punched the walls of the airship. Emily put a hand on his shoulder, reassuring him slightly. Tyson bit his lip and dug his nails into his pants as he tried to come up with something relevant to say, his mind filled with the memory of Ray falling through the air below him. Kai was gritting his teeth in frustration as he watched his silent comrades mope around because of one loss among them. "Forget the hell about Ray! He just happened to turn out like a hundred other rebels who died fighting for our cause! He deserves the same respect as the rest! A small thought and nothing more!" Kai shouted out and everyone stared at him in slight fear. Kai ran a hand through his hair and stared at each of his rebel friends. "Look, Ray's gone. Focus on the crisis at hand." He said in a far more comforting tone and walked over to Mariah, carrying her to a chair nearer the discussion. Tyson blinked away a tear and spoke up. "Okay, so Kenny built this airship, Osiris, secretly." He started and Kai nodded in agreement. "So now we know where our excess funds went." Kai added, partly serious and partly joking. Emily rubbed her hands and sighed. "Aside from the near impossible idea of destroying that thing over there by means of hacking into the top-notch government computer controls, this is our only way to destroy that airship." She explained, receiving a cold laugh from Kai. "What's so funny?" Tyson asked as one of the few hundred rebels that Kenny stowed in Osiris ran up to them carrying a tray of refreshments. He immediately paused his interrogation and slurped down an entire glass of soft drink. Kai reached for one and answered bluntly. "We don't have any weapons. We can't destroy the enemy airship." He stated rather pessimistically and Max closed his eyes in resignation. "Then we're sitting ducks for their cannon thing." He added and Emily and Tyson nodded in recognition of defeat. "Not really." Kenny walked up to them with his trusty and upgraded laptop under his arm. "Kenny's right, you know." Dizzi's familiar voice agreed and everyone turned to face the intellectual rebel whose eyes were never seen. "Yes. You see, they overheated the cannon and are directing most of their virtual units to the repair of the weapon. We can easily conquer their remaining defenses with just two bitbeasts." Kenny explained and his comrades' faces brightened up at this realization, except for Mariah and Kai, of course. The rebel branch leader frowned and pointed out a flaw in the plan. "They'll still have their air force and Frames with them. How will we fight back?" He asked and Kenny's mouth twisted to a large grin that covered half of his face. "During our raid on a government base, I happened to send in a small group of rebels to capture three Frames from the enemy. We can use those." Kenny added but Kai still remained skeptical. "Unfortunately, the only place you'll be able to hide those Frames is in one of your secret holes inside that garage of yours. That's a good few thousand feet under us." Kai countered and once again, gloom overtook the rebels. "Er, we could use an escape pod to head back down and retrieve the Frames." This time, Kai had nothing to retort with. Tyson gave a whoop of delight and promptly began to arrange the party that would head back down. Kai dug his hand into his pocket and gave a small yelp of surprise, as he was unable to find the disc containing Dranzer. "Shit! I lost Dranzer!" He shouted and punched the wall in frustration, as he knew that there was no way he could even try to pilot a Frame without Dranzer. "That means Ray will have to go to the garage instead." Dizzi suggested and Mariah broke down into tears again. "Uh, we lost Ray." Tyson explained and Kenny sighed in response. "Okay then, only one of us will attack the airship's system." He shrugged and Max walked over to a computer that was plugged into the side of Osiris. "I'll do it. Draciel can take the heat." He said rather bravely and slotted in Draciel's combat data. Tyson tapped Mariah on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly at her. "We'll do this for our good buddy, Ray." He said and Mariah smiled weakly, standing up to join him and Emily, who would retrieve the Frames. "Let's go." She said and ran ahead of both of her fellow rebels. Kenny turned to face the frantic Kai, who was desperately searching for his bitbeast, Dranzer. "Damn, damn, damn! I lost Dranzer!" He shouted out, ripping out small clumps of his hair. "What do I do now?" He sunk into a chair and looked around the main room of Osiris, noticing the empty pilot's seat. Kai smiled thinly and ran up to the seat, only to be stopped by Kenny's hand. "Don't pilot Osiris. Leave it to the autopilot." Kenny said seriously and Kai frowned. "Why?" He retorted icily and Kenny sighed. "I swapped a bitbeast based control system with a far more complex device that is directly connected to your body." He explained but Kai was still persistent on piloting the great airship. "All the better. I don't have my bitbeast with me anyway." "Don't you understand? You will be tied in with Osiris! If Osiris is hit in a vital area, you will die." Kenny shouted at Kai, his voice filled with worry. "In the end, it doesn't matter how hard you try. Every single one of us soldiers is going to die, Kenny. I'm prepared for that." Kai said with determination, staring at Kenny intently before hopping into the seat. Kenny smiled before heading back into the rest of Osiris, disappearing out of Kai's sight. Thin lines snaked across Kai's body as the controls began to switch from automatic to manual. Every beat of Kai's heart was reflected as a pulse of energy on the web of lines covering his body. His brainwaves were instantly read as information and transformed into movements in the body of Osiris. Max glanced over his shoulder as he prepared Draciel for battle in the virtual world, biting his lip in slight apprehension as he saw Kai shake with the tremendous amount of energy coursing through his body. "Now we're all set." He said as he activated his connection to the Internet, sending Draciel to the systems located inside Zeus.  
  
7:39, Kenny's Private Garage, Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Lights are on now." Tyson said as he switched on a vast amount of ceiling lights inside the immense underground storage room. He whistled in awe as he stared at the huge amount of cutting-edge technology that Kenny had kept secret. A brand new model of his motorcycle that made his look like scrap lay unused in a shadowy corner. Mechanized Combat Units similar to the one Emily had tested were stored in halves of huge crates, their polished blue armor shining brightly under the intense light of the garage. "No Frames however." Emily commented as the three rebels scanned the huge room, checking every nook and cranny. Tyson nodded in agreement and split off from his comrades as he decided that they would be more effective if spread out. Emily understood and glanced over her shoulder to check on Mariah before probing through the layers of machinery in the room to find the Frames. "Kenny should have mentioned where he hid it . . ." Tyson grumbled as he leaned against an experimental mech, wiping the sweat that was the product of hundreds of lights glaring down at him from his forehead. He stared at Mariah and sighed as he pulled out a picture from his pocket, staring fondly at the photograph taken before the war. "Damn government!" He shouted and blinked away a tear as his fist slammed into the crate beside him. A whirring sound was made and Tyson hopped away from the source of the noise, slightly surprised. Emily ran up to him and her jaw dropped as an entire section of the wall opened up to reveal two Frames, one golden and the other silver. "Er, that must have been the trigger." Tyson said sheepishly, breaking the stunned silence. Emily rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her orange hair. "Well, duh." She replied and narrowed her eyes as she noticed the conspicuously empty gap in between the golden and silver Frames. Tyson noticed this as well and bit his lip in thought. "A Frame's missing. Guess that means I'm heading back." He commented and Emily punched him on the shoulder lightly. "You pilot the Frame. This is your base anyway." She said and walked over to a mech stored beside the Frames. "I'll go back in this baby." She explained as Tyson opened his mouth in protest, whacking himself when Emily disappeared into the cockpit of the mech. He threw up his arms in surrender and turned to face the Frames before calling to Mariah. "Hey, Mariah! You get the silver . . ." Tyson trailed off as he watched Mariah hop into the gold one and rocket the Frame through the roof of the garage. "What's bugging her?" He asked stupidly and climbed up onto the silver Frame awaiting his commands.  
  
7:45, Above Rebel Base, Shanghai, China  
  
The silver Frame piloted by a panicky Tyson clumsily dodged a charge from an entire horde of the government's automated fighter planes. "Dragoon! Activate the manual controls!" Tyson shouted nervously as he accidentally back flipped in the sky and evaded another attack from the enemy air force. "It's on already! Grab the controls!" Dragoon's frantic voice came out through the silver Frame's cockpit as Tyson watched the name "STRAY" appear in his display. "Okay then, Stray. Let's get these guys!" He said as he rested his palms on glowing spheres on either side of the cockpit, receiving an instant reaction from Stray, the silver Frame. Boosted by the twin Vernier rockets on its shoulders, Stray catapulted above the enemy forces and released a burst of lightning shaped energy from its silver arm. The silver Frame raised its arms to cover the navigational systems onboard from the massive explosions that emanated from the decimated enemy fighters. "Tyson, prepare for the second wave." Mariah's emotionless voice crackled over his radio and the Tyson turned his attention to a swarm of insect-like things flying straight at them. Stray put on a burst of speed as Tyson launched the sleek mech at the horde of puny-sized fighters but was quickly stopped as a rain of fire greeted Stray's energy shield. Tyson shouted out in surprise as the insectoid creatures attached themselves to his Frame and Stray writhed uselessly under the sheer number of the government forces. He gasped in fear as a fighter crossed his line of vision, flaunting the hideously deformed face of a Vire. "Dragoon, activate Stray's form shield!" A female voice commanded and Tyson barely turned his Frame's silver head to witness Emily's mech load a clip of bullets into a large rifle in the blue machine's hands. An ethereal shield covered only the form of Stray, creating a sort of secondary skin for the advanced piece of weaponry. Vire fell to the firefight below Tyson as bullets ripped through their genetically altered bodies and ricocheted off Stray's glowing shield. "Thanks, Emily!" Tyson said gratefully as he opened fire on the approaching airborne Vire with a lot more caution. "I'm running out a flight fuel. See you in Osiris!" She replied as her mech blasted off towards the behemoth called Osiris. Tyson saluted her inside his cockpit as he fired lightning bolt after lightning bolt at the cloud of Vire, eliminating a few. He glanced at the golden Frame of Mariah and raised an eyebrow in disbelief as he watched her and Galux hack their way through the legions of enemies with vengeful speed, turning all who opposed her Frame and she into sushi with an energy blade. "Disturbing." Dragoon's worried voice commented and Tyson nodded as his hands subconsciously controlled Stray with the greatest of ease for a man who had first entered a Frame a few minutes ago. He unleashed another massive burst of electricity from Stray's glistening arm and smiled thinly as the horrific screams of the inhuman Vire filled the air for a few seconds. Stray lowered its arm and turned to face Mariah's Frame and gestured towards the airship Zeus. "Well now we know where Argent and Stray went." Tyson whirled his frame around instead of rocketing towards Zeus to face the fiery red Frame known as Crimson. A cobalt Frame appeared behind Mariah's golden Frame and folded its arms behind the rebel mech. "Hand over the Frames and surrender immediately." Riwin's cold voice echoed through Tyson's ears as Crimson revealed a pair of blades that was stored in the Frame's arms. "Ray died because of you and your fucking government! Nothing in hell will make me surrender to you!" Mariah suddenly shouted as the gold Frame known as Argent delivered a kick to Azure's sleek stomach area, slamming Sarah's face into the walls of Azure's cockpit. The blue Frame's arm shot out in retaliation and tossed Argent's mechanical body all the way across the sky. Tyson gulped as he was surrounded by two government Frames and held up an energy blade in a futile attempt for self- defense. Stray parried a blow from Crimson but received a devastating punch from behind by the icy cold Azure, smashing a few circuits inside Stray. "Tyson, Stray's battle performance has dropped 2%.' Dragoon said in a whiny tone and Tyson wiped sweat away from his forehead. "Forget the damage reports! The shield, man, the shield!" Tyson yelled as he frantically dodged multiple slices from Crimson and blocked a chop from the energy blades of Azure. Crimson sword met invulnerable energy as Dragoon finally set up the shield of Stray and deflected both of the government agents' attacks. Crimson somersaulted over Stray however and grabbed both of the silver Frame's arms, restraining it. "Good work, Drake. I'll go get the girl to watch another one of her teammates die in the line of fire." Sarah said in response to Crimson's intelligent maneuver. "And I'll kill him." An emerald Frame floated downwards and folded its arms confidently in front of Tyson's pinned Frame. "Finally! Hey, Jex, I'll toss him up and you unleash the particle cannon on him." Drake radioed to his comrade and Jex nodded from within his green Frame, Jade. Argent slashed at the head of the approaching Azure but the skilled pilot within deftly grabbed Argent's golden arm and twisted it off completely, sending electricity coursing through the cockpit and Mariah's already wounded body. "Now, you get to watch your friend Tyson die as well." Sarah said softly over the radio and forced Argent to face the writhing Stray a few hundred meters away. "No . . . I don't want to lose another friend . . ." Mariah's hands pushed firmly on the control spheres in an useless effort to break free from Azure's iron grip. "Now Dragoon will finally be deleted." Ris' somewhat smooth yet dangerous voice added as Mariah watched Crimson toss the silver Frame containing Tyson upwards, making Stray a sitting duck for the particle cannon on Jex's Frame. A blast of neon green light slammed into Stray, burning away every inch of the silver armor on the machine, leaving a skeletal body hovering in the air. Azure flung the damaged Argent all the way to Jade as Mariah stared at the burned ruins of Stray's body, blinking away tears. Jade held up a cannon to the chest of Argent and Mariah heard the cold voice of Rizel laugh dementedly. "Tyson might have survived if Jex and I didn't plant viruses in Stray's system as a fail safe system." Rizel said arrogantly and a fire of hatred burned inside Mariah's heart. "Well then, tell me what Ray says when you reach the other side." Jex finished and time seemed to stand still as Mariah heard the click of a loaded cannon. "I say: get away from her, you dirt bags!" Ray's voice filled the morning sky and Mariah's heart skipped a beat when she saw the third black Frame, Vector, hover in the sky with her beloved Ray inside. "Ray!" She shouted as a beam of dark energy cut through Azure's stomach area and sent the cobalt behemoth flying through the air like a rag doll. Crimson blasted downwards and avoided a burst of fire from the rapid energy guns on both of Vector's jet-black arms. "How can you be alive? We saw you fall through the air!" Drake shouted as he retaliated with a blast of rod-shaped energy that sliced through empty air as Vector dodged it. "Drake! The girl!" Ray turned his Frame around as Crimson flew up to the disabled Argent and held up its own rapid-fire gun to the chest of the golden Frame. Vector hesitated and lowered his cannons, as Ray was afraid for Mariah's safety. Azure hovered over to its comrades, its wound sending sparks into the air. "Now Ray, surrender yourself to the government." Jex said threateningly and gestured towards the restrained Argent. "Or your beloved little friend will be blasted into oblivion to join Tyson." He added and flew over to Mariah's Frame, pushing Crimson away and choking Argent's neck. The insignificant little hexagons skitted across the surface of Vector's chest and they dissipated to reveal Ray, holding his hands up in surrender. "Drop her now and I'll comply." He said seriously and Jex smiled inside his Frame. Ray scratched his head and shrugged sheepishly. "I come back from the dead to get killed again." He commented and waited as Crimson flew over to his Frame and aimed a cannon at his defiant face. "Get away Ray! You think I want to watch you die again?" Mariah said desperately as the hum of machinery inside Crimson's cannon filled the morning air. "For crying out loud, can you two stop being so damn romantic?" Jex asked in annoyance and tightened his grip on Argent's throat. "Jex! Drake! Hold it! Something's going on with Stray!" Sarah shouted and the two government Frames turned around to face the glowing Frame known as Stray. "Dragoon has accessed Stray's liquid metal system. I think attacking Jade would be wise right now!" Galux hissed to Mariah and she nodded, flipping her Frame in the air and kicking Jade in the back. Argent dashed towards the stunned Vector as both of the rebels inside the Frames watched liquid metal cover and replace the burned armor of Stray. "Get up . . ." Tyson commanded weakly, clutching his bleeding shoulder. Dragoon's name lit up the display like fireworks as the failing systems surrounding Tyson slowly returned to life. Azure loaded a large gattling gun (A/N: I only recently learned that this was the correct spelling.) and aimed the weapon at the rising Stray. "Damn! So our scientists put the recovery unit inside Stray!" Drake realized and blasted another rod-shaped beam of energy at the healed silver Frame, pushing his weapon systems to the limit. "Tyson, let's get some payback!" Dragoon said slyly as Tyson grinned to his bitbeast. Stray raised a hand and stopped the beam of energy emanating from Crimson's palm. "Now!" Ray shouted suddenly and catapulted towards Jade, Vector's energy guns firing endlessly. The emerald Frame raised its energy shield just as dozens of dark energy bullets ricocheted against it. Mariah quickly followed suit and released dozens of lasers at Azure, who swatted them away with a few swipes from its energy sword. "C'mon, Riwin! The wakizashi!" Drake ordered with panic filling his voice as he watched Stray deflect his attacks with the shield surrounding its body. A sharp wakizashi appeared in Crimson's hand, the only physical weapon Crimson had equipped. "Whoa!" Tyson said in surprise as Stray was slowly being forced backwards by the skilled and practiced slices that Crimson was throwing at him. Ducking to avoid another slash from the shield-piercing sword and had Stray's arm cut off by a follow-up, Tyson fired his jets and zoomed away from the lethal Crimson. Meanwhile, Argent was fighting a losing battle trying to defeat Azure with only one arm available. Azure suddenly ducked and grabbed Argent's sleek golden legs and threw the Frame towards Vector. Mariah was rocked inside her cockpit as her Frame crashed into the black Vector and sent both of them flying through the sky, away from the three government Frames. "Drake, Sarah, retreat now! Ivan has a little surprise for them!" Jex hissed as all of his comrades and him flew back to Zeus, leaving three confused rebels. Ray's eyes narrowed as he suddenly raised a huge shield around both of his partners and suffered an immense amount of damage as Zeus released a burst of fire from the advanced weapon system onboard! "Get back to the whatever it's called airship! I'll hold their fire since Vector's in better condition than both of your Frames!" Ray ordered as he watched a giant cannon rotate towards their positions. "The photon cannon is online! That means they led Max and Draciel to a trap!" Tyson realized and pulled Argent to the waiting Osiris. "Hurry Mariah . . ." Ray whispered as he witnessed a rain of lasers head straight for his sleek black Frame, ready to turn him into crispy critters.  
  
Finally, the end of the chapter has arrived. I had a lot more stuff to put in but I think 6 thousand words are enough for now. BTW, if you want to know where I got my idea of Frames, I'm on a Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner high. 


	8. It's not over

Connection Terminated  
  
By: Pyroteknix  
  
8:20, Zeus' computer defense system, Virtual World  
  
Draciel's left arm spun behind him to connect with the jaws of virtual forms of the Vire and it planted itself firmly onto the shiny floor of the Zeus' defense system. He flipped himself onto that one arm and twirled his legs around, smashing the frail heads of the Vire like eggshells. He flipped backward, sitting deftly atop of another's shoulders and delivering a quick neck snap before ducking to avoid a swipe from a Vire's lethal claws. "Yeeps!" Draciel mumbled before rolling off the Vire he had, er, incapacitated and shot out both of his legs into the chest of two Vire, sending them flying through the digital air. "Max, I need a speed upgrade." Draciel said into a microphone that hung from his ear.  
  
"On it's way." His master said calmly and opened up a window that displayed all of the current upgrades that he had in his computer. "Speed upgrade version 7. Developed by Quicksilver in Sector SEA." The blonde American thought aloud as he read the various lingoes used by rebels like him when they created upgrades or programs. Max narrowed his eyes as he scanned through the vital statistics of Draciel. "Battle capacity down by 27% . . ." He mumbled before rapidly typing in the code he had just read and jammed the "ENTER" button, instantaneously sending the upgrade to his bitbeast. "Fire away." He said optimistically.  
  
"Woohoo!" Draciel said as the wind whipped by his air, reacting to the speed created by running up and over a wall. He landed deftly on all fours, crouched in the middle of a group of Vire, and swung his left leg through them. He somersaulted back towards the wall, kicked off, spun in midair and began assaulting the stunned Vire with the average reflexes of a spider as he zoomed through them like a bullet. "Max, I'm in. All Vire have been deleted."  
  
"Great work, Draciel! Head for the third door from the right." Max said into a microphone attached to his ear and typed in a complete area scan for Zeus' computer defenses. "What the?" He said in worry and his fingers began typing in various commands and orders as he watched a highly unusual combat program zoom through the screen. "Partially identified as bitbeast Zealous. Battle capacity: 150%. Battle motivation: 231%." A computer voice stated blandly as a 3 dimensional picture of the now encased in death black armor Zealous rotated in his screen. Max pressed a button on the side of his microphone as he simultaneously scanned the various stats that Zealous had. "Bad news, buddy. Zealous is heading straight for you!"  
  
"Target: Draciel. Mission: Destroy at all costs." Zealous' now inhumanly cold voice hissed as the two black feathery wings resting on his shoulders propelled him forward and to his target. "Chance of success: 92%." He said before spinning in midair, his wings folding back into his body. He skidded to an abrupt halt a few meters away from Draciel, kneeling on his left knee. "Begin assimilation." Zealous' arm shot out above him and a huge, glowing portal suddenly appeared above him. All the unused data of the deleted Vire suddenly hovered upwards, shimmering under the light of the portal. Without warning, the particles rocketed into the warp that hung precariously over the imposing figure of Zealous, causing the portal to suddenly implode with a spectacular bang and zoom back into Zealous' awaiting hand. "Assimilation complete." Zealous hissed and slowly stood up, reaching for the long digital wakizashi that was hanging from his belt. He pulled it out at an excruciatingly leisurely pace and held it out before him, pointing at Draciel's neck. "Surrender now, Draciel, and I'll save you from the pain that is my sword." He said calmly, raising the visor of his ancient-looking helmet to stare back at his opponent with cold silver eyes.  
  
"Jeez, that's so original. Max, upload twin pistols for me." Draciel said in response, grinning confidently at his opponent. Two powerful guns materialized into Draciel's gloved hands and the bitbeast held them out, setting his sights for Zealous.  
  
"If that's the way you want it, this is goodbye." Zealous replied icily and his black wings shot back out, propelling him into the air, reminding Max and Draciel of a dark angel. He spun around the wakizashi as a crazed fire lit up his eyes and Zealous catapulted himself for Draciel.  
  
Draciel shrugged and twirled his pistols in the air, firing endlessly at Zealous. "No way!" He shouted in surprise as Zealous grinned and deflected the virtual bullets with the sword that rested in his hands. "I can't get past his damn sword!" Draciel shouted, frustrated. Suddenly, a wakizashi appeared in Draciel's hands as well and the bitbeast stared at the weapon he was holding in disbelief. "Max! I have no idea how to use this!" He said nervously as Zealous drew closer and closer by the millisecond.  
  
"That's what I'm here for! Draciel, prepare for a crash course in dueling!" Max said optimistically as he finished typing in a lesson program and pressed the "ENTER" button once more, causing hundreds of data packets to stream into Draciel's virtual mind.  
  
Virtual steel met virtual steel as Draciel parried the advances of Zealous like a professional, thrusting, slashing and blocking with his newly found ability. "I see you've learned the way of the sword. No matter, what will be done, will be done." Zealous commented, blocking a blow from above and twisting his sword so that Draciel's flipped the holder onto the floor. Zealous kicked his opponent in the stomach and quickly held his sword downwards to block a desperate blow from Draciel. "My good friend, never trust a version 3 upgrade." He hissed and raised his sword for the kill. Zealous hesitated and lowered his sword as he thought of something. "Just about now, another rebel bitbeast should suddenly blast me with a shotgun heroically . . ." He thought aloud and on cue, shotgun fire sent him spiraling away from Draciel. "Damn! I hate movie clichés!" He said as Trygator, holding a smoking shotgun, and Dragoon, twirling his own wakizashi, appeared from the murky fog that seemed to plague all of Zeus' systems. "Oi, Zealous! I'll show you what living in a sword for a couple of generations can do to your sword fighting skills!" (A/N: Dragoon was trapped in a sword before he zapped himself into Tyson's beyblade.) Dragoon shouted before going all "Samurai X" and zipping towards the fallen government bitbeast like a rocket. Trygator ran up to a bleeding Draciel, who was slowly getting up to his feet. "Er, weren't you two going to help out Mariah and Galux with destroying the government's air force or something?" Draciel asked stupidly just as Galux hopped down from a hole in the ceiling. "Ehehe, wrong address." The female mountain cat bitbeast explained sheepishly as a very demented-looking Dragoon attacked the damaged Zealous with a sword.  
  
"Where did you guys come from?" Max asked in disbelief as he watched Tyson and Mariah sit down beside him and then did a lot more than just watching when Emily came. "We got some help." Tyson explained bluntly as he typed in a bunch of codes to help Dragoon catch up with the fleeing Zealous. Max opened his mouth to ask but Emily quickly put her fingers on his lips. "Don't ask." She said to Max and he shrugged before returning his attention to the screen. "Oh well. Draciel, head for the central computer."  
  
8:37, above super-destroyed rebel base, Shanghai, China  
  
"Two hundred Vires going down the drain, Two hundred Vires going down the drain . . ." Ray hummed to himself as Vector fired another burst of black lightning. (A/N: I suddenly realized that's Galeon's attack.) A group of the airborne Vire screamed inhumanly as the energy zapped their bodies to less than the size of a cookie, and even browner and crispier too. "Er, Ray? It looks like they've repaired the stupid laser cannon you destroyed a while ago." Driger's worried voice said through a bunch of staticky signals that filled his connection with his master. "Shit! These Vire were a distraction!" He realized and pulled his Frame down and banked hard to the left, avoiding the sporadic bursts of fire that came from the rebuilt laser cannon. "Get a lock, Driger!" Ray shouted as he frantically evaded a few thousand blasts of laser fire from the same cannon he had all so easily destroyed a couple of minutes ago. "We should have blasted that stupid cannon ages ago!" He added as Driger began hastily trying to keep his sights set on the laser cannon. "I can't! The Vire have created some kind of anti-lock thingy!" Driger retorted and Ray turned his attention to the hovering Vire and watched as their wings created some kind of distortion as they flapped. "Wait, I've got a plan." He said, his eyes narrowing in focus as his grip tightened on the control spheres. "Just a little less . . ." Ray mumbled as his fingers dug into the spheres, slowing down Vector to a crawl. "Jeez, I had to get a suicidal master . . ." Driger said as it left control completely to Ray and waited for the effects of his plan. "Lower the diffusion range of the lightning." Ray ordered Driger and the bitbeast immediately complied.  
  
8:45, Inside Zeus, above really really destroyed rebel base, Shanghai, China  
  
"What the hell is that Ray guy thinking? Maximum power to laser cannon!" Ivan ordered, spraying Jex with his spit as they readied to attack the immobile Vector. "Ivan, that might not be such a wise idea." Blaze commented from behind him as they charged up the laser cannon on the nose of Zeus. "Shut up, Blaze." He snapped back, unusually tense. "We warned him, bro. Let's grab a couple of coffees at the lounge." Ice said to her elder brother and the two walked back into the depths of Zeus. "Forget them, Jex! Fire!"  
  
8:47, you-know-where, Shanghai, China  
  
"Let's go!" Ray shouted as he dug in his right forefinger, unleashing a very thin burst of black lightning that more closely resembled a chopstick than anything else. The two beams of energy, one blue and one black, zoomed straight at each other with the average precision of a sniper bullet. "Quick, put out the camera!" Ray said frantically as Driger shut off the camera, which provided the view of the outside. The beams of radiance collided and an immense flash occurred as the laser that originated from Zeus dissipated into smaller, thinner beams that were refracted by the black lightning and were sent towards the horde of insectoid Vire. Driger reopened their visual contact and Ray pumped the air inside Vector with his fist, accidentally hitting the ceiling, and gave a whoop of delight as hundreds of Vire fell towards the one-sided battle below them. "Eat that, Ivan!" Ray shouted in the face of his hated enemy.  
  
8:50, you-still-know-where, Shanghai, China  
  
Ivan was staring at the screen in front of him; his shoulders slumped as he stood in disbelief of what had happened. He sighed and rubbed his hands together excitedly before turning to face Jex. "Keep him thinking that he's winning. Ready the photon laser cannon for fire on the rebel airship." He said calmly just as the two other government agents, Sarah and Drake, came limping into sight. "Er, Drake, get Sarah to the clinic. Looks like she needs medical attention." Ivan said, noting the blood that was dripping from Sarah's injured stomach and shoulder. A very pale and obviously sickened Drake nodded and led his comrade to the clinic for a quick check-up. "My, this is really one of our off days." Ivan commented and shook his head.  
  
9:07, Central Control System of Zeus, Virtual World  
  
"Damn it, Zealous!" Arcford shouted, folding his arms across the same yet silver armor that his counterpart was outfitted with. "Look, Arcford. We can still get them here. There's no way they can beat five of us." Ris commented, dusting off the newly equipped blades that were attached to her arm. "Yes. I want payback for that last battle we had." Riwin said through gritted teeth and loaded the two rifles that were resting on his gloved hands. "Don't we all. Stay focused guys, they're coming." Rizel said, his eerily quiet voice resonating through their ears. "Zealous, you better not mess up this time." Arcford threatened, moving his open palm over a stone that lay on the ground. He clenched his hand into a fist and the stone exploded into little data particles. "Unless you like living in my body." Arcford finished as he absorbed the meager amount of data the stone had revealed. "Yessir."  
  
"Bad news, 4 bitbeasts at 12:00." Trygator commented as the four rebel bitbeasts stopped a few meters away from their also immobile opponents and traded death glares at each other for a while. "I'll take Zealous." Dragoon said excitedly and his comrades nodded as the blue-haired bitbeast pulled out a sword from behind him. "Arcford is mine." Galux's angry voice hissed and she flicked open to knives that were concealed in her sleeves. "Then I'll take Ris. Draciel can handle Riwin." Trygator said with authority in her voice and loaded the twin pistols she was packing. "How about Rizel?" Draciel asked, readying his fists for some close combat action. Galux shrugged and crouched, ready to charge at her target. "We'll get rid of him later." She said quickly and grinned. "In the meantime, let's have some fun."  
  
A couple of seconds later . . ."I assimilated your skills in our last battle, Dragoon! It is hopeless for you to win!" Zealous said confidently as he raised his sword to block a blow from Dragoon's, ducked and spun around to slice off his opponent's legs.  
  
"Yeah well, I've won some pretty hopeless battles before." He replied, jumping to avoid the cold blade that was swung below him.  
  
Zealous immediately got back up and attempted another slash, only to find the steel of Dragoon's blade. He gritted his teeth and lowered his wakizashi to parry a low stab by his opponent and Dragoon grinned at him before throwing his sword and arms upwards. The result was Zealous' sword flying out of his hands and leaving him very much open for a stab in the stomach area. Zealous gritted his teeth and performed a bit of acrobatics, flipping backwards, catching his wakizashi in midair and landing on all fours before getting back up to his feet. "Nice try, rebel." He said and charged at his opponent, who held his sword in front of him like a fencing saber.  
  
"Why don't we change the forte?" Dragoon replied with a smile and his sword really changed into a fencing saber.  
  
Zealous' eyes narrowed and the government bitbeast ducked to avoid a thrust from the pointy sword that rested in Dragoon's hands. He smirked at Dragoon and rolled backward, gripping his wakizashi with one hand, as it too became a fencing saber.  
  
"En guarde!" Dragoon said in an irritating rendition of a musketeer as he flicked his sword right and left, back and forth, trading glances with the sword of his highly skilled opponent, Zealous. Both swords went down, up then separated as the two bitbeasts tried to stab each other.  
  
"Close shave!"  
  
"Whoa!"  
  
The two said as their fencing sabers nearly stabbed each other in the ribs. They grinned at each other and continued their little sword fight.  
  
"Ahahaha!" Dragoon said in triumph as he flicked of Zealous sword and he secretly slid his other unused right hand into his pocket.  
  
"Ahahaha!" Zealous said as he tripped his opponent and ran off to his sword.  
  
"Ahahaha, gak, gak!" Dragoon said and rubbed his sore throat before pulling out a pistol and shooting Zealous in the head with it, causing the government bitbeast to finally dissipate into little particles that Dragoon readily absorbed. "That wasn't so hard."  
  
As for Galux, well, the battle wasn't really going in her favor. She was ducking, rolling and blocking the shots fired from Arcford's rifle as the fight progressed and was unable to get grips in this one-sided fist fest. "I'm bored." Arcford finally hissed and he yawned, firing a shot right in front of Galux, causing dirt to spray into her face. He reloaded the rifle and took somewhat relaxed aim before shooting Galux the shoulder with a patented degeneration bullet Rizel himself had designed.  
  
"Oi, Arcford!" The silver-plated bitbeast turned around to face the pistol of Dragoon. "Shit!" Arcford shouted before going "ninja" and disappearing, leaving Dragoon with nobody to shoot. "Need some help, miss?" Dragoon said and offered his hand to the stumbling Galux.  
  
"Shut up, lucky boy."  
  
"I resent that."  
  
"C'mon, while everyone else's distracted! Let's delete that control system!" Galux hissed and the two ran towards the giant glowing sphere that hovered in the middle of the area, leaving Draciel and Trygator to finish off the losing government bitbeasts, Ris and Riwin. The pair stopped at a glowing circular platform and waited as the circle elevated them at an exceedingly slow pace to the core of the sphere. "Okay, if we just disconnect this little plug here . . ." Dragoon's voice trailed off as an arm collided with his head and sent him flying across the chamber, unconscious.  
  
Galux whirled around and raised her arms to attack the considerably weaker Rizel but, without warning, a spasm of pain shot through her shoulder and spread into her body.  
  
"Like my degeneration bullet?" Rizel asked in a taunting voice as Galux fell to her knees, eventually falling flat on the floor and shaking uncontrollably. "I just want a little sample of your data for a new breed of Vire . . ." Rizel said quietly before kneeling and extracting an injection from his chest pocket.  
  
"Sample this!" Rizel's head promptly turned upwards to face a rappelling bitbeast in a black coat, who had an eerily familiar sniper rifle pointed at his head. "Dran . . .!!!" Rizel's voice croaked as a sniper bullet pierced his head and he immediately exploded into shiny little sparks.  
  
"What would you do without me, Galux?" The bitbeast said in a cold voice, helping up the choking Galux and resting her on his shoulder.  
  
"Stupid Dranzer! You made Kai go all loco 'cause he lost you!" Galux said angrily, spraying Dranzer with spit.  
  
"Hey, I saved his life a couple of hours ago." Dranzer snapped back before scooping up Dragoon as well and walking back to the small box that Dragoon was defusing a while ago, kicking a hole into it. "And that's how you disable a system, you bloody psychos." He finished and kicked another hole in it for good measure.  
  
9:23, Inside Zeus, above not so smoldering ruins, Shanghai, China  
  
"Please tell me the system's still working." Ivan said in a very calm voice but, as the poor technician he was choking knew very well, it is always calmest before a storm. "The system's still working." The technician said sheepishly and Ivan promptly pulled out his black pistol, twirled it and fired it so accurately so that it just blew of the technicians' ear. "Again." Ivan said in a bit more serious tone and pointed the shiny gun to his forehead. "5,4,3,2,1 . . ." The black-haired evil mastermind counted, narrowing his eyes as the technician began rambling on about a bitbeast strike team attacking Zealous and the others or something. "Damn them. The proton laser will need repairs. Jex, pull back Zeus." Ivan said in recognition of defeat, resting his forehead on the palm of his hands and sweeping them into his hair. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before whipping out a cellphone from his pocket. "Einhart? Start up the chambers again. I will be redesigning our Vire army." He listened to the other man's voice for a while, nodding to some of his comments. "Excellent. Prepare for reprogramming of Moritsune and Hotsuma's original data. I'll send you the blueprints for their new design later." He continued and his mouth narrowed into a cold grin. "By the way, ready one grave please." Ivan finished his dialogue, snapped the cellphone shut and twirled the pistol in his hand. He loaded and pointed it at the technician's head. "Die, spy. I never told you about placing our bitbeasts in the control system." Ivan said coldly and a millisecond later, blood was splattered around the steel floor of Zeus. "Jex, I told you to retreat!" Ivan said a tad bit impatiently and turned around to face his esteemed pilot. He sighed and closed his eyes in deep thought before looking out the giant window that separated him from the rushing air outside. "Ah, Ivan Elmdor thinking. Now, that's original." Blaze chuckled from behind his employer's back and Ivan presently turned around to face the somewhat notorious mercenaries. He twirled his pistol and pulled out a second one before pointing at the heads of his obnoxious hired hands. "I've had quite enough of you two." He said dryly and narrowed his eyes as Ice and Blaze looked at each other and grinned. "We're not ready to meet the eternal darkness." Ice replied as her hand darted into her pocket and so did Blaze's. Four clicks of fired guns echoed through the hall as the mercenary known as Blaze did a couple of fancy moves with his newly drawn gun, blew off the smoke, stared at his twin sister, stared back into Ivan's cold and disbelieving eyes. "Impossible . . ." Ivan mumbled as Ice and Blaze walked away from him with cocky grins plastered on their faces. He came back to his senses and spat in distaste before walking back to Jex, ignoring the four bullets that had met in midair and had since clattered to the floor harmlessly. "Cheap shot."  
  
9:56, Inside Osiris, above vast blue sea, near not smoldering ruins, Shanghai, China  
  
"Ray! We finally got them back for destroying our village!" Mariah shouted enthusiastically and wrapped her arms around his waist, then stopped as she realized Kai was watching. "Ahem. Maybe we should focus on the current topic first?" Kai said, narrowing his eyes as he stared at his somewhat jubilant and hysterical comrades. Tyson was happily munching down on a huge sandwich that was approximately the size of Kenny's laptop, belching on regular intervals. As for Kenny himself, the brown-haired boy was nowhere to be seen and Kai figured he was sobbing over the extremely busted Frames that lay in Osiris' hangar. Max and Emily were hugging and looked like they were going to kiss when Kai shot a nasty glare in their direction. "Why do I even bother?" Kai asked and shook his head before throwing his hands up in surrender. A cheer echoed through the halls of the huge airship as each of the triumphant rebels celebrated. Strangely enough, four of them disappeared right after that and Kai didn't want to know what the sounds that were coming from their rooms meant. "So, Kai, where are we headed to next?" Tyson said with excitement lighting up his voice, rubbing his hands like a little child. "Enrique says that the European branch is fine and I received notification from Tala that they already have the situation under control in Russia." Kai replied, ticking off fingers as he continued. "Aside from being kinda upset over Emily's leaving them, Michael says that they fixed up the damages from Ivan's attack and have a new base in Colorado. Which reminds me, I forget to tell Mariah they gave Lee and her parents quite a funeral." He continued and closed his eyes in silent punishment. Kai stopped counting off his fingers and stared at Tyson, who was snoring away in his sleep. He frowned and walked over to his temporary room, slamming open the door and activating his computer via voice command.  
  
"Hello, Kai."  
  
"Dranzer, you ass! I thought the government had gotten you already!"  
  
"That's not what Galux said."  
  
"Never trust a bitbeast that runs around in pink."  
  
"Ah, but Driger does and I bet Ray does too."  
  
"Stop teasing me about the fact that Ray and Mariah are probably going to repopulate our decimated army!"  
  
"Hear that noise from across the hall? Do you want to know what that is, Kai?"  
  
"No, Dranzer."  
  
Kai said before closing his window that featured Dranzer's smug face and opening a list of all the branches where they could land Osiris. "Japan is too busy with the government's construction of a thermo-nuclear bomb, Canada's airstrip was destroyed, Africa's base was completely wiped out, Antarctica is out of the question, New Zealand is preoccupied with the civil war . . ." Kai rubbed his forehead and entered in a more specific search item, revealing the closest available rebel branch. "The Southeast Asian branch? That's the low-tech base if I remember correctly." Kai commented and began reading the specifications of that particular branch. "Wow, talk about lame computer defenses." Kai rubbed his rough chin before typing in a quick email to Kenny that contained the coordinates for the Southeast Asian rebel branch. "Send estimated arrival time back to me." He mumbled absentmindedly and ran a hand through his hair before reopening the window that contained Dranzer.  
  
"So, what now, Kai?" Dranzer asked as the phoenix bitbeast polished a sniper rifle that lay on a rack for easy use. The bitbeast sighed and looked straight at his human counterpart.  
  
"How about some battle simulation calisthenics for the morning?" Kai suggested and his bitbeast groaned in reply. "In my beyblade." Kai added, smiling before holding out his relatively worn beyblade in front of the monitor.  
  
A few seconds later . . .  
  
"Oi, Ray, Tyson, Max, Emily, Mariah! How about a five on one battle with Dranzer and me?"  
  
"Shut up, Kai!"  
  
End of story  
  
If this felt short to you, don't worry! I already have a sequel planned for this two-part story. If we get that scanner we want and my sister doesn't mind, I might be able to have pictures of the various antagonists and the new characters in the sequel put up in another website.  
  
Super Disclaimer: I only own the story, the original characters, basic idea and the penname that comes under the title above this fic. I don't own any of the Beyblades characters and I don't want to anyway. Just the nice little tops they have. 


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